Shannon's trip to Paris

My fiance' proposed in Paris, France overlooking the Eiffel Tower over Labor Day weekend. When I flew to Paris to meet him (he has already there for work for the past week), I was hoping for a ring but my friends/coworkers were definitely expecting it! We did sight-seeing from the second my plane landed and he showed me the city. A day and a half later, he took me for a romantic dinner on a rooftop (a fancy, glass-encased restaurant on top of a museum) overlooking the Eiffel Tower. It was beautiful and the first time that I had seen the Tower at night). I kept wanting to go out and take pictures but he told me to wait until after dinner. We went out and I took lots of pictures. He hadn't initially planned on doing it at this spot but the moment struck him to do it there instead of a park a little walk away. When he asked me, it was all in French and I didn't know what he had said. So, the second time he proposed, he got out the ring and proposed in English. I cried, repeated "yes" about 10 times and finally said "oui". Only his Dad, a colleague in France (who bought us a bottle of champagne for that night) and my parents were the only ones who even knew that we were engaged until we flew back to the states 3 days later.It was the most romantic experience and I am so proud to be his fiance'. We are getting married June 28, 2008 and I am proud to become Mrs. Hughes.

Britter and James' Engagement Story

Britter is a client of Circle City Planners. She is are Going Green gal. Her and James are getting married on May 17,2007. Here's their story told by Britter!

Well, mine wont be the most romantic, but probably the most caught off guard!

Jay and I have been together for almost 3 years. I have been on him about getting married for about 2 of them. I really started putting the heat on after I got a consolation ring last year for Christmas (which is amazing, and I also knew I would eventually get an engagement ring- so ultimately getting 2 rings, SCORE!) My subtlety wore off after a few months. I would make comments all the time. I would tape pictures of engagement rings on his steering wheel, on his pillow, in his desk, in his wallet. I even programmed my personal jeweler's name into his phone. I started wearing him down over the summer. I just knew this was my guy, the guy. I guess the saying of when you know its forever, you want forever to start right then! - very true in my case. We started talking more and more about it, he finally told me it was OK to meet with my jeweler and pick out a ring. - just to find out how much he would need to budget and get some ideas. he wanted me to narrow it down to a few then let him decide which one and surprise me. The day my jeweler was coming over Jay decided to go golfing. Jay called to tell me he was just going to come over - I told him, he might want to circle the block a few times because Dave was coming over! He didn't hyperventilate, surprisingly, and said that was fine and he would meet with him too. I got a bottle of wine ready for him and he was good to go. We ended up designing a ring. We had a very busy fall. We were traveling all over the place. Charlotte, Chicago , New York , and a few weddings around the state. I thought maybe it would be at a college friend's wedding (or after to not take away from the bride). No ring. I thought it would be at my best friend's birthday party in Chicago , with all my girlfriends from college. No Ring. This whole time I knew he had the ring, because Dave had called to tell me it was done (he switched our cells). So i knew Jay had it. Which drove me bonkers!! He had planned on moving in in November, and I told him we had to be engaged before that, so I knew it had to be sometime in the fall. I thought it might be New York , but then our families wouldn't be there to celebrate with us, then i thought it was too predictable. So I was watching around every corner. The morning we were supposed to leave for New York he woke me up at 4:41 AM, I am very asleep. He was shaking me, saying Babe, wake up, wake up, i have something for you. My response, "I am sleeping" We had an early flight and I had 19 more minutes of sleep, and by golly I was going to get them. He persists, I have something I want you to take with you to New York . I told him my suitcase was at the end of the bed. I finally opened my eyes, and he was saying some really nice things...I am thinking to myself he went to the Colts game last night he must still be drunk...and he better have his suitcase packed. I hear, Britter, WILL YOU MARRY ME? At the same time he opens the box. Now, it is pitch black in the room and all i can see is blue and white flashing lights. (I am thinking - He and my dad got me a Superbowl replica ring!...) I didn't even care!! Stunned I was silent for about 2 seconds when i just started screaming YES, YES! YES! YES!, OH MY GOSH YES! YES! It was pandemonium as we cried, and kissed. I told him to turn the light on so i could see the ring. It wasn't a Superbowl ring, it was the one that I had dreamt about forever, perfection. The dogs were officially freaked out. I called my mom - i don't know how (mother's intuition), but she got the message to come over right now! The rest of the day was champagne, an applause from the plane, more champagne, flowers waiting at the hotel, and a limo ride around New York City for a few hours. He had to surprise me and he knew I would be looking for it all weekend, so that was the only way he could think of me not expecting it, and also the night before he had asked my dad for my hand. He said he was so excited he couldn't sleep, and he also did not want to be Ben Stiller from Meet the Parents and lose the ring in transit. Oh yea, the blue and white flashing lights - it was the box the jeweler gave him he loves the colts so he thought it was funny!...... and That is how Jay engaged me!

Kelsey and Chris's Engagement Story

No pictures with this story but its still a good one! Read below in Kelsey's words:



I wouldn't be surprised if every woman who submits her story starts out by saying "Mine is the best because....", or "It has never happened like this...". To me, my engagement would not have been the same, any other way, than how it happened. I would not change a single detail. To a "T", it screamed our personalities. So here you go, this is my engagement story. My now fiance, Chris, was just about to celebrate his 24th birthday on November 8th. Now at this time, that date was about a month away. I had decided that I wanted to take him out of town for his birthday since that is what he had done for me earlier that year. Just as I was starting to make plans for this mini trip, I got a message on the computer from one of his best friends stating: "Kels, we want to throw Chris a surprise birthday party this year. He has never been surprised before. Can you help us out?" My first thought was there goes my plans but then I figured I could at least take him somewhere Friday night then we could go back to his house Saturday night and surprise him there. I spent the next few weeks secretly sending messages back and for with his friends, updating them on what I had planned for us to do the day of the surprise and what time we would be getting back. I even went so far as to ask for his friend 's phone number so I could text him when we were on our way. I totally thought he'd be surprised. I was so proud of myself for not slipping up and spilling the beans since I'm horrible at lieing. So the weekend of the surprise finally arrives. We go to a bed and breakfast Friday night and on Saturday we go to Circle Center Mall, go to a movie, then out to dinner at P.F. Changs. I am constantly looking at my phone to see what time it is. We finished with dinner too early. I knew we couldn't head back to his house yet, not everyone would be there. So my fiance said that he wanted to go to this park downtown that we used to go to after work sometimes. I thought it was kind of weird but agreed to go since I knew we needed to waste a little more time anyway. We walked there and sat down on one of the benches. He proceeds to tell me that he had been lieing to me for quite some time. My fiance is not the type to do it at so of course I asked what he was lieing about. He pulls out a box, opens it, and inside is my engagement ring that he designed just for me. Now I knew he had picked out a ring already, I just didn't know that he had it and when he would ever propose. I was speechless and so was he obviously. After a really long pause, I asked him "are you going to ask me?". He laughed and then asked the BIG question. Now here's the big twist to my story. We get to the car and begin to drive back to his house. Of course I'm still excited for what is supposed to be a surprise party for him. We get to his house, and I tell him to go ahead and go in. We walk in the door and all of his friends are standing inside and yell "SURPRISE!!". I had pulled it off, or so I thought. I walk into the kitchen, and there sits my entire family (even my parents from out of town). This was not really a surprise birthday party. He had been planning this all along, an engagement party for me. He told his friends to get a hold of me and plan a surprise birthday party for him. The entire time, he knew of every letter that we had wrote back and forth. He was behind the whole thing. He drove all the way to my Dad's to invite them, without me even knowing. It was the craziest/best day of my life...well so far! My story might not be super romantic, but it was perfect for me. My fiance and I love to laugh and joke around. The way he went about it was incredible. I hope you enjoyed how I became engaged!

Jacqueline and Dave's Engagement Story

Jacquline and Dave will be married on March 28,2008 at the Omni Severin Hotel in downtown Indianapolis. This is a great story I'm sure you will love reading.

In Jacqueline's words:

I had been hinting throughout our relationship that I wanted to go to the symphony. I didn't think we were ever going to go until 6 years later Dave tells me that his best friends parents season tickets are available and I was so excited.. We sat in the season tickets seats which ended up being the 4th row from the front. It was the Valentines day show, they played all love songs that night. Halfway through the show, the conductor stops and asks the crowd who had been married the longest-there was a couple there married over 50 years and he sent them a bottle of champagne, then he asked who had been married the shortest and sent them a bottle of champagne. The he looked into the crowd and said, "I think Dave has a ? for Jacqueline" My face went blank and I saw out of the corner of my eye Dave got down on one knee in the aisle. I heard the whole crowd gasp.He told me how much i meant to him and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me, I said yes of course and got up and hugged him.....the crowd clapped and cheered. There were about 2000 people there that night. I started crying and I was so happy because it was so unexpected and in a place I have been trying to persuade Dave to go to. At intermission I had one more surprise..I walked out into the hallway and there stood my best friend Ashley who came down from Purdue. I immediately started to cry again! After the show, the symphony had threw us a engagement party where they opened up the bar and had a cocktail singer come out. We were congratulated by the whole crowd and even the conductor Jack Everly came out to say congratulations. The public relations lady at the symphony came over and told us that we were the first couple in history at the symphony to be let to STOP THE SHOW and have a proposal. I still don't know how Dave pulled that off. The symphony was so kind and went above and beyond that night. So we will go down in history as the first and only couple to be engaged during a symphony in Indianapolis.

Christa & Matt's Story

My fiance and I are high school sweethearts. We will be together for 8 years in March. We met when we were 15, and we are now both 23. In those 8 years we have never broken up, and we have lived together for 4 of the years. We moved to Indianapolis together to attend the same college. All my friends always teased me about not being married yet, or even engaged, especially since we have been together for so long. I just thought he would wait until we were finished with school to ask me to marry him. I am an education major and a dance minor. I just graduated college and recently had my last dance company performance at the Scottish Rite Cathedral. After the dance performance was over, the dance company director called me forward from the line of dancers on stage to introduce me as the graduating senior. Then my fiance, boyfriend at the time, walked up beside me, and she introduced him. It wasn't a big deal because I had roped him into doing a dance with me at this particular performance, since it was my last performance...so I just thought she was introducing him as a guest performer. So, I grabbed his hand to take a bow with him. BUT...then she handed him the microphone and told the audience that Matt had something he would like to say. The lights went out, and a spotlight shined on us. 'It's Your Love' started playing in the background. At that point, I think everyone kind of knew what was going on, so the entire crowd started cheering before he could even get a word out. He told me he had an entire speech planned to say to me, but after the audience started cheering he got nervous. His eyes started welling up w/ tears and his hands were shaking. His voice got really deep, and he said, 'Christa, we've been together for 7 years now, and nothing would make me happier for you to be my wife. I love you very much, will you marry me?' I really wanted to grab the microphone and say, 'could I please have 7 more years to think about it'....lol, but I just grabbed the microphone and shouted 'YES!' The entire audience stood up and went wild. I was so embarrassed that he asked me in front of a ton of people that I couldn't even squeeze out a tear, but everyone else was crying...lol I was in the very last dance number of the show so I was sweaty, and my hair was stuck to my face, and I had a ridiculous costume on...lol I had always imagined him asking me in a more intimate setting with just the two of us, but apparently he had other plans. The whole thing was caught on video of course because all of our dance performances are taped. When I watched the video you could see the whole dance company wiping their tears on stage after he asked me. Also, he didn't want to have a box sticking out of his pocket so he carried the ring in his hand when he came on stage. He kind of held it behind him so in the video you can see the first couple of girls in the dance line that watched him walk by start jumping up and down and hugging each other before he even asked me because they saw the ring. I definitely went out with a bang, and that dance performance will never be forgotten. I actually went back to the Scottish Rite for a bridal show in September, and I stood on the very same stage in the very same spot he proposed to me.

What a sweet story!

Kathleen and Gary's Engagement Story

Below is Kathleen and Gary's Engagement Story. Very sneaky Gary with the dessert menu and Kathleen thought it was never going to happen!

Enjoy everyone!

Please remember if you would like to be considered for the contest submit stories to tonya@circlecityplanners.com by January 31st. The winner will be announced on Valentine's Day.

Gary and I had been dating for almost 4 years. Gary graduated from college in May, and I would graduate in December. We had discussed engagement several times, but it didn't seem as though he was very motivated to propose any time soon. I am very much of a planner, so I wanted to know if I should expect it within 6 months, a year, never?? Just so I could either tell myself to let it go because it wouldn't be for a while and to look to live on my own for a while, or to be thinking about our future. He would get so frustrated when I would bring it up. Our last discussion a week before he proposed he was laughing when I was asking him serious questions about engagement/marriage -- and man was I pissed! I said, "You're laughing? What is wrong with you? This is serious, Gary. Just forget it."Well, to celebrate our 4 year anniversary, he took me out to dinner. We had been to the Eagle's Nest for our 3 year anniversary and loved it, so we decided to go back for our 4 year anniversary. Before dinner I said, "So are we going to get dessert?" Gary responded, "Yea we have to celebrate." Well we got halfway through our dinner and I said, "No dessert for me I am already stuffed." Gary said, "Oh come on, we have to have a dessert on our anniversary." So I said ok and asked for a to-go box for the rest of my steak. The waitress asked if she could bring us any coffee, and I said, "No thank you, but could you bring us a dessert menu please?" SO she did, and I looked toward the bottom of the menu first. I saw Carrot Cake then Honeymoon Delight. I thought, "Honeymoon Delight that doesn't sound like a dessert"- below it said "Spending the rest of my life with you... Kathleen, will you marry me?"Gary took out the ring, got down on his knee and proposed. I was absolutely shocked, and I was shaking. I said yes and we're getting married October 25th. I then realized why he was laughing a week earlier. He had already purchased the ring and he didn't know how to respond to my questions without giving it away.

Engagement Stories

For those who don't know we are having and an Engagement Story Contest! We are looking for the best engagement story in Indianapolis. Were you surprised? Did he get down on one knee? The more details the better. You can submit your story to Tonya@circlecityplanners.com and stories must be submitted by January 31st. We will post stories here on our blog and the winner will be announced on Valentine's Day. The winner will receive: Discount pricing on our Full Service Wedding Services, dinner for two at a downtown restaurant, one night stay at the Crowne Plaza hotel, horse-drawn carriage ride around downtown and a free photo engagement session from On 3 Photography! Below is Kristen and Terry's story.

Kristen and Terry's Engagement story
She said yes...
The night of April 1, 2007 was our one year anniversary. Terry had been in Atlanta, GA for the NCAA Final Four, which is “mecca” for college basketball coaches. The festivities and events were to end on April 3rd, but Terry made it a point to travel back for our one year anniversary.

I could hardly wait to pick him at the airport being that I hadn’t seen him in two weeks. At this time we were living in separate cities and making the trip was not always possible. To our dismay, his luggage had not made the trip with him to Indianapolis, but this did not ruin our plans for the evening. We had made reservations at a hotel downtown and we went to the hotel and relaxed and waited patiently for his luggage. Of course, Terry being the level-headed one was a little more patient than me.

Once we received his luggage we headed out for the evening to celebrate. Terry had made reservations at one of my favorite restaurants, Milano Inn. After a delicious and intimate dinner, we exchanged anniversary cards. Terry’s card to me professed how much he loves me and how he looks forward to celebrating many more anniversaries. Then, Terry had arranged for the manager to take a few pictures to document our anniversary, because he knows I absolutely love taking pictures. Well as we finished taking what I thought was our last picture; Terry said that we needed to take one more picture. As I turned back around, Terry kneeled and took my hand in his and asked me to marry him. Of course, I immediately said yes through the tears and smiles. It couldn't have been more perfect!

The night was not over. After calling friends and family, we finished the evening with ice cream on Monument Circle. One of our favorite spots is South Bend Chocolate Company. We both have a little bit of a sweet tooth, especially for ice cream! The wonderful thing is that we will be getting married just steps from where we celebrated our engagement.

Inspiration Tuesday - Going Green

This Inspiration was inspired by my FUN, ORGANIC bride Britter! Thank you for the inspiration.
The main theme revolves around three concepts: recycle, re-use, and reduce. This concept is fairly new, green weddings – which is actually an alternative term for organic weddings. This type of wedding is basically about traditional ways of planning weddings with the plus of being environment conscious.
One other important consideration in planning an organic wedding is the venue. More than looking for a romantic venue, a couple wanting a green wedding should also consider other factors such as the presence of recycling containers, the use (or actually the “un-use”) of chemical pesticides for the lawn and other greenery, and the like. You can also find out how much carbon emissions the wedding guests will use to travel to the wedding, and then make a donation to offset those emissions. You can check out http://www.terrapass.com/ for more information.
Free range meat, recycled wedding invitations, organic flowers (artificial ones work too), florescent light bulbs (wedding favors), and organic seeds are just a few things to put the finishing touches on this GREEN WEDDING. Anything bi-gradable will work. Stop and think how much we waste our resources in America. This is one way to show your guests how much you love them and your environment!