The Proposal
Nathan and I became engaged in New York City on June 3, 2002. We were in New York for my orientation duties at the medical center where I now work. I was supposed to take my ACLS class that day. So, we were driving around using the map software on Nathan's laptop trying to figure out how to get to the hospital where my class was taking place. Well, Nathan and I both have a terrible sense of direction. Once we lost our car in Boston and spent the whole night trying to remember where we had parked it. So, of course we got lost on the way to the hospital.
After we had passed the Bronx Zoo for the umpteenth time, we finally reached the hospital. Of course, by then the class was half over. Nathan had made reservations for dinner at a French restaurant in Manhattan called La Goulue. I think his plan before had been to drop me off at my class and then sort through how he was going to do the proposal. But now his plans were ruined because I had missed my class. We had a few hours before dinner and had nothing to do. I suggested we go into Manhattan early and do something touristy. When I asked Nathan where he wanted to go, he said Central Park.
I remember thinking that Central Park was a pretty funny place to want to visit on your first trip to New York City. While Nathan and I were strolling in Central Park, I remarked that I had always wanted to take one of the carriage rides through the park, but had never had the chance. Nathan suggested that we go ahead and take a ride then. So we hired a carriage.
Just as we were nearing the end of the ride, Nathan had the driver stop the carriage. I assumed that he wanted the driver take a photograph of the two of us in the carriage. To my surprise, he then got on his knees in full view of a bunch of people in the park and asked me to become his wife. I enthusiastically agreed. I still remember him taking the ring out of this change purse that we'd been using all the way to New York from Michigan to pay tolls and wondering if it had been there the whole time. He said later that he had just put it in there before we went to the park.
As we exited the carriage at the drop-off, many of the people who had witnessed his proposal came to congratulate us. We topped off the day with a romantic dinner at La Goulue on Madison Avenue. It was the perfect day despite all the running around and being lost.
About the Ring
The ring is platinum with a diamond solitaire and six small diamonds on either side. Nathan had it made for me and designed the little gold embellishments on the front.
The Date
We were married Aug. 9, 2003.
About the Dress:
The dress is an A-line, strapless dress with mucho beading by Eva Haynal Forsythe that I bought at Kleinfeld in Brooklyn. I took my mom and sister with me to get the dress and they both said that it was the one when I tried it on. So I bought it and then went through several months of buyer's remorse. I thought I should have gotten a cheaper dress that I saw elsewhere. But when I came to my first fitting I realized that I had made the right decision and I absolutely love my dress. I had forgotten what it looked like; the designer's Web site only showed the dress from far away and it was worn by a model who resembled the Robert Palmer girls in his "Addicted to Love" video. No wonder I had buyer's remorse! Anyway, the dress was lovely and even better when it was whittled down several sizes at my fittings.
