The Big Surprise

All right, enough with the secrecy-I can't bear it any longer! While this isn't the story of my engagement, I promise it might actually be much, much more exciting!

When I started my new job in August, one of the first things I learned was that my boss was preparing to propose to his girlfriend, and that I would likely be in charge of planning the big event. After some permutations of the original plan, E decided he would lure S to a small, local restaurant for a celebration of his book deadline. Hiding in plain sight as diners at the restaurant would be a choir, and hiding in not so plain sight in the kitchen would be instrumentalists, poised to pop out for an even bigger surprise! On E's signal, the choir would being to sing "All You Need is Love" in an homage to the recessional in Love, Actually, and the lonely guy eating at the bar would actually be the dapper tenor soloist.

Well, the big night was yesterday, and I was so excited I could hardly keep my heart from racing yesterday! After our regular workday (during which E and I did a lot of whispering and last minute detail-discussing), I headed to the restaurant, where we finally brought together the brass trio and the choir for their very first rehearsal! 15 minutes before E and S were scheduled to arrive, I snuck out of the restaurant and went to their apartment, where I let S's parents, grandmother and friends in to plan another surprise-a little engagement party (I know what you're thinking-the girl is going to have a heart attack with all these surprises)!

After making sure there was plenty of serving ware and adaquate bubbly for the celebration, I left for my rehearsal that evening. While I was waiting for a cab, I saw S and E leave the restaurant, whopping and laughing, announcing their engagement on one of the most auspicious days of the year. It was a joy to plan such a wonderful celebration with them, and a relief that it all went so beautifully. And I promise, as soon as that video is up on YouTube, I'll be sending you all the link!



Photo by Peter Lindbergh for Tiffany & Co.