Name: Kendra

Wedding Date: 09/06/2012

Proposal Story: 

I moved to Ohio in March of 2011 and my now fiance lived in Alabama. We started spending a lot time in the Atlanta and Columbus airports traveling back and forth to see each other as much as we could. It was my turn to travel to the south and Zach was waiting for me with a sign with my name on it in the welcome lobby. As I was reaching into my purse to get my camera, he flipped the sign around and it read "Will You Marry Me?" and in fitting fashion, he proposed to me in the place we have spent most of our time. :)

Name: Lindsay Rollins

Wedding Date: 01/06/2012

Wedding Proposal Story:

Everything began in December the planning that is. When I was away on a mission trip to St. Lucia Abe took my parents out to dinner and asked my hand in marriage. Of course my parents said yes :). Now fast forward to 8 in the morning May 1st. I am woken up by my RA screaming bloody murder saying wake up wake up wake up. She leaves a box and a rose. I crawl out of bed and open the box and there is a giant cake with a huge heart and a tape recorder. I play the tape and it says that my roommates and I must get dressed and take a trip down memory lane, in the form of a scavenger hunt. The tape has a riddle and after we figure out the riddle we realize we are going to IHOP. Upon arriving at IHOP we already have a table and everything has been paid for all we have to do is order. After eating a delicious breakfast I am given another tape and rose. This tape says to go see the oldest couple I know which is my grandparents. At this stop my grandparents tell us there story of getting engaged and the secrets to a marriage that has lasted 63 years. After talking to them we received another tape and rose. This tape said to go to my house. Here we talked to my parents and received yet another tape and rose. This tape said to go to the place where we started dating 3 1/2 years ago. So we drove to the tree where this all happened. When we arrived there, there was a towel, pillow, rose, and tape. The tape had a card on it saying to lie in the middle of the rode and listen to the tape. After doing so this tape told me to go to his house and play a game of taboo with his mom in order to get the next tape. We did so and received our next tape, which told us to go to a park and feed ducks. We fed ducks and found another rose and tape on a bench. We listen to this tape and it told a very cute story about how a duck had lost its mate and returned home to where they first met. The duck remained there waiting for his bride. When he saw this wonderful couple that always took walks and fed ducks there he had hope. After the story he gave us a hint to go to Buffalo Wild Wings. At Buffalo Wild Wings I had to complete the blazing challenge because "I love spicy food so much"...not! I successfully finished this challenge in 4 minutes and 8 seconds. After this our waitress gave us another clue to go to the local movie theater where I had to ask for tickets to the very first movie we ever saw. This clue told us to go to a local donut shop and eat donuts and drink old fashion coke. After this we had to return close to where we started at the sterling lake. Here I was told that I had to put on running clothes that my roommates had packed and run to the college which was a mile and half away. My teaching professors holding pink balloons would mark my path. These balloons led me to the soccer field. While running though I peed my pants from all the coke I had drank. When I arrived at the soccer field Abe had his back to me and whering his roommate’s jacket, which made me, think it could be his roommate. Once I got close up I realized it was him and he had me sit down in a chair. Then he proceeded to sing me a song that he wrote. After this he stood me up and had me turn around. There in front of me where the words WILL YOU MARRY ME? These words were held by my family, his family, my grandparents, his roommates, and my roommates. Then I turned back to him and he was on one knee and he asked me if I would marry him. Of course I said yes. This whole time I was crying up a storm. Then the crowd yelled what’s the answer? And I said Yes. Then they all rushed at me and gave me hugs. Best day of my life… So far.

Name: Bridget Kanz
 
Wedding Date: 6/30/2012
 
Nick had the whole thing planned with the help of friends and family. He took plain two white t-shirts and wrote the message "Bridget will you marry r daddy?" and had each one of his children wear them and took a picture. He placed the pictures in a photo album that the couple had been working on of things they have done with Haylee and Chase. He waited until his family reunion weekend to pop the question.

On March 12th, 2012 at the restaurant Ciao Bella in Bloomington, MN he handed Bridget the book. As she turned to the pictures she froze with a smile on her face. Bridget turned to Nick's daughter Haylee and asked "What should I tell Daddy"? Both Haylee and Nick's son Chase screamed "SAY YES"! The entire restaraunt was looking at us!! It was the most embarassing and amazing night of my life!

Name: Tom Roach
 
Wedding Date: 5/15/2006
 
Proposal Story:

Because of Donny Osmond and The Osmond family I met my Valentine.

Valerie grew up In Los Angeles, never married and in her forties had been a big Osmond fan since the 1960's when as a little girl would watch the five young brothers on The Andy Williams Show.

Valerie's parents both passed away several years ago leaving he pretty much on her own.

I grew up in a small town in Indiana (French Lick). I was one of the few guys that I knew of that loved the Osmond's. Sure I was teased allot but there was something about The Osmond's that I was drawn to. I loved their closeness as family and the way they could sing such tight harmonies.

To make a long story short, my photo was on Donny Osmond's website in the fan site as I was trying to help raise money for The Osmond's to them get a much deserved star on The Hollywood Walk Of Fame. Valerie saw my photo and emailed me. We wrote back and fourth for a couple of years as friends not thinking much more of it because of the distance between us. Finally in August of 2003 I flew to Hollywood California to join fans from around the world to watch The Osmond's receive their star, and there was Valerie. My heart stopped beating. She was so beautiful and the chemistry between us was amazing. I flew back to Indiana with tears in this grown mans eyes thinking that I had finally found the love of my life, but I couldn't stay and I couldn't ask her to come to Indiana.

After a few days without Valerie, I called her and told her that I was willing to try a long distance relationship if she was. We traveled back and forth across America for a few months. Valerie met my Mother and Father and fell in love with them and they with her. It was like Valerie had a family again after all these years.

I knew in my heart that God had brought Valerie and me together and that God was giving me his amazing blessings to ask Valerie to be my wife. I wanted to do something special and somehow have the Osmond's involved in my proposal, but what?

Then amazingly Valerie called and said that she was going to go watch a taping of the game show Pyramid hosted by Donny Osmond on Dec 9th because that is his birthday. It was like a switch had been turned on and I emailed Donny Osmond's assistant. I told her the whole story about Valerie and Me. How we met thru the Osmond's etc... I told her that I wanted to sneak out to Los Angeles and come onto the set of Pyramid without Valerie knowing and propose to her with Donny Osmond by my side.

I honestly didn't expect a reply, BUT two day later I received a phone call from Donny's assistant Tina. She said that Donny LOVED the idea!! The next thing I knew I am on a plane to LA without Valerie's knowledge. When I got to the Sony Studios I was snuck under tight security so that there was no chance of Valerie seeing me. It was amazing! I was no one special yet the whole crew treated me like a famous guest. I met with my boyhood hero, Donny Osmond in his dressing, gave him a hug and thanked him for what he was doing for me and Valerie.

As the show began, Valerie was sitting in the audience. Everyone on the crew was ready and poor Valerie had no idea what was about to happen. The music began playing, the lights were flashing and Donny introduced the categories for the next game. He read them off as the boards light up. They read: WILL YOU MARRY ME VALERIE? LOVE TOM
Donny said, "Valerie is in the audience right there" as the camera panned onto Valerie she sat there stunned, then Donny said "Tom, come on out". I walked on to the set, Valerie turned and looked in my direction and her jaw dropped to the floor! As I walked up into the audience everyone was standing, cheering and crying. Everyone but Valerie that is. She sat there with her hands in her face. I got down on one knee, told Valerie that I loved her and proposed to my sweetheart................. She said yes!!

We married a few months later and Valerie moved from the big city life of Los Angeles to small town life in Jasper, Indiana.

Here is the proposal as it appeared on national TV:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiJZ5FOt22c&feature=player_embedded

Name: Aniruddha S. Nene
 
Wedding Date: 01/06/2012
 
Proposal Story

I was in India for the past month with my family and girlfriend (Gaya) of 3.5 years. While my reasons for visiting included spending time with my grandparents, watching cricket, eating real food, and enjoying nice weather, I had an overarching purpose for going. Over the course of my vacation, I proposed to Gaya and she accepted. The story is as follows:

The first movie that Gaya and I watched together was Amelie, a french film about a shy and eccentric french girl who does good deeds for people while pursuing her love interest at the same time. As far as romantic comedies go, it's right up there with You've Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle, and When Harry Met Sally (in other words, pretty awesome - I highly recommend it). In the movie, Amelie's father is depicted as a lonely guy who spends all his time gardening because he is depressed about the untimely death of his wife (Amelie's mom). One of his most treasured possessions is a garden gnome, which he has used to build a shrine outside the house in memory of his wife.

Seeing how sad her dad is, Amelie steals the garden gnome one day. She photoshops the garden gnome into pictures of famous world attractions to make it seem as though the gnome has visited each of those places. She then sends these photoshopped pictures to her father, who is totally confused and starts to think that the inanimate garden gnome is somehow traveling all over the world. This confusion eventually inspires the father to get out of his funk and travel himself.

Anyway, I borrowed the garden gnome concept for the proposal. A few weeks before we left for India, I rewatched Amelie with Gaya to make sure the movie was fresh in her mind. Then I stole a stuffed toy that she owns (a bear called Mr. Clutch, the first gift I gave her) and had him photoshopped into pictures of various places we were going to visit on our trip (my friend Ajaya helped with this part). I used these pictures to make postcards addressed from Mr. Clutch and slipped them to Gaya one by one over the course of the trip. I timed the postcard deliveries to make it seem as though the bear was always one step ahead of us.

The list of postcards (major places we visited) in chronological order is as follows: Gateway of India (Mumbai), Pune (city where I was born), Allepey Backwaters (Kerala), Kanyakumari (Southernmost tip of India in Tamil Nadu), Meenakshi Temple (Tamil Nadu), Rameshwaram (Pamban Island, Tamil Nadu), and Dhanushkodi (tip of Pamban Island, Tamil Nadu). Dhanushkodi is of special importance to us because it is the closest point in India to Sri Lanka, which is where Gaya is from. It also holds important Hindu mythological significance as it is the location where King Rama (avatar of Vishnu) built a bridge to Sri Lanka to rescue his wife Sita from the clutches of Ravana. Here's some more detail: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhanushkodi

Dhanushkodi is one of the craziest and most remote places I've ever visited. It is a narrow strip of sand surrounded by the Bay of Bengal on one side and the Indian Ocean on the other. We rented a jeep that took us to the very tip of the peninsula, which was no more than a few feet wide. Other than the jeep driver and a group of 5 people a few hundred feet away, we were the only people there. It literally felt as though we were standing on the ocean. Once we got there, we found pawprints leading to Mr. Clutch (my parents helped with this part). Gaya picked up the bear in surprise and I asked her to check if he was ok.

When I first gave her the bear over three years ago, I had added a recorded sound in its paw that went off when you pressed it. After I stole the bear from her, I switched this sound to the other paw and put a second recorded sound with the proposal into the original paw. When Gaya picked up the bear at Dhanushkodi and pressed its hand to see if the sound still worked properly, she was surprised to hear me proposing to her instead. At that point I dropped to one knee and opened the box containing the ring.

Everything beyond that is just a blur of happiness and joy. We hugged and kissed each other, at a loss for words, simply soaking in the moment the best we could.

Some random/funny notes:
1) Gaya was so surprised when I got down on my knee that instead of saying "yes", she said "I do". From that point on, "I do" became an inside joke for the rest of the vacation.
2) Allegedly, one of the same rocks that was used to build Rama's bridge is preserved in a small hut-like temple on Pamban Island. It's a big porous rock that floats in water that we had the chance to touch and take pictures of.
3) My friend Tsung-Han had given me a cuban cigar a while back. To celebrate the success of my proposal, I lit it up Red Auerbach style.