6.11.2012

I'm ENGAGED

Which means that after 5.5 years, I said YES!


And here's the story:

On Saturday Joel headed out to run errands and told me he would be back in an hour. Ten minutes later I had a knock on our front door from our mutual friend Juli. She told me she was instructed to take me to The W Hotel for an overnight "staycation".

When she dropped me off in front of the hotel, I had a feeling this was it. It had to be it. My heart started to beat out of my chest and as I made the elevator ride to room 1518 I really did think that I was going to throw up. 

When I walked into the room, expecting candles and rose petals, what I found was Joel lounging on the couch watching soccer.

I gave him quite the look and started buzzing with questions. a. ) What are we doing here? b.) Why did you reserve such a gigantic suite  c.) What are we doing here? d.) What are we doing here? e.) What are we doing here?

He told me his company had upgraded us at the hotel and that we were going to have a special date night of just the two of us. He wanted to treat me. 

Okay fine.....I GUESS that's okay.

It was a really sweet gesture, and I was excited, so I fully of gave up the idea that this was going to be the day that I was getting engaged. He had booked a manicure for me at the spa and then the plan was lounge by the pool and before a fun dinner in West Hollywood.

Again, I can deal with this.

I marched my happy self down to the spa, put my headphones in and lost myself to Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

When I went back up to the room, totally unsuspecting, things started to fall into place.

Joel had changed to his suit coat, grabbed my hand, and led me into a room where he had flowers, two flutes of champagne, and a ring box.

He grabbed my hand, got down on one knee, and proposed.

 

Joel had asked my dad's permission earlier in the week so my parents were anxiously waiting by the phone. I had held my composure just fine until I talked to my mom and told her that I was actually engaged!
mid phone call
We both cried, and screamed, and cried, and screamed.

Joel had arranged for a cabana down at the pool so we had our champagne brought down and made the rest of the thousands of phone calls down at the pool. 
 

The ring is absolutely perfect and fits like a glove. It is the exact ring that I didn't know I wanted and I am so in love with it. Joel has been working on the dang thing since November!!

  And what a smart fiance I have to arrange a manicure before my engagement!  Really makes for extra nice photos!

Did I just say Fiance!?!

So after my photoshoot with my new best friend (my ring), we freshened up for a night on the town.
The hotel had set us up with a reservation at The Eveleigh in West Hollywood who greeted us with full glasses of champagne to the start the night off right!
We did not start the bridal diet that night and stuffed ourselves silly with cheese, fries, seafood, and 2 desserts.

It was a really romantic restaurant with dim lighting and an open ceiling - the perfect setting for our first dinner as an engaged couple!

 
The whole day was just perfect, and much to the help of The W Hotel is Westwood. We were treated so kindly and the room they upgraded us in was just perfection. We have always been a fan of Starwood hotels, but if you ever have a special reason to visit one, I highly recommend it. They really do add an extra something special - like when Mark, the concierge, bought vases for the flowers from his HOME!


 It was the most perfect, dream engagement that I'm still on cloud nine. Joel did an amazing job and I can't believe I'm lucky enough to have him as my fiance! 
 
And finally,  we are so happy to be legitimate parents to our #1 fan. 


24 comments:

  1. AHhhh CONGRATS!! What a dream engagement and what a stunning ring!!

    It's absolutely beautiful and I'm wild with jealousy! He did good!

    Also, I can't believe I missed this yesterday on twitter... DAMN ME!

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  2. Congratulations! Your ring is amazing! Joel is such a smarty with the manicure plan too :)

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  3. OMG!! CONGRATS!! What an amazing engagement story:) Your bling is super fab

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  4. So excited for you friend! Miss you!!

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  5. Congrats!! Adorable story- really love that he scheduled you a manicure-smart man!! And LOVE that mint dress!!

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  6. Congratulations!!!! So happy for you. :)

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  7. congratulations and 'tanti auguri' from Italy!!

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  8. what a FANTASTIC engagement story friend...so happy for you!! now let the REAL fun begin ;)

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  9. Congratulations!!! Your ring is amazing! And the W is awesome!

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  10. What a gorgeous ring and a fabulous fiance to get you a manicure!!! He is SO good! Congratulations Tess!!!

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  11. congratulations again! sounds like your fiance did a perfect job and thought of every detail! smart man! enjoy and savor this time!!

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  12. Congratulations girl!! What a beautiful ring and a beautiful engagement story!! Have fun on cloud 9!

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  13. What a great proposal. He did well!

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  14. Hooray!! Let the planning begin!! Hahahaha. I am so excited for you. What an elaborate proposal. The Hollywood W is amazing. Please tell me where you grabbed dinner. I hope all the street closures in WeHo for gay pride celebrations didn't interrupt any plans. So sweet your guy arranged the manicure.

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  15. Congratulations! What a sweet proposal! :)

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  16. Congratulations again!!! The ring is beautiful and you look so happy!!!

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  17. Congratulations! I can't believe he tricked you like that. Clearly he knows you well and what you would be expecting;) Can't wait to see the ring in person!

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  18. Congratulations! What a fantastic engagement story! Your ring is utterly gorgeous, too! Yay! :)

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  19. Holy crap...loved reading this! Joel is so sweet, and very prepared and organized! I need to let my husband read this!! Couldn't be more excited for the two of you. After a whirlwind year, you so deserve every happiness and that kickass ring!

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  20. Aww I love this!! Your ring is TDF and I love how he made you second guess everything. Too funny that he was just lounging around the hotel!! And the manicure thing is perfection- that should officially be an engagement requirement. Congrats to you two!!!! :)

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  21. I'm not going to lie - this story is so awesome that I read it twice. Joel did SUCH a good job! Congratulations again! I hope you're going to share some of the planning on here :)

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  22. SO excited for you! CONGRATULATIONS! Not going to lie, I kind of wondered when it was going to happen since you guys have been together forever. I feel like you've probably already told it somewhere on here, but time for a refresher post on how you guys met/got together?

    The proposal sounds absolutely perfect and like it was totally worth the wait! Your ring is gorgeous and Joel is such a thinker for getting you a manicure just before the surge of hand pictures featuring a beautiful new edition on a certain important finger. Congratulations again, enjoy cloud nine. Let the wedding planning (Pinterest to the rescue, once again!) begin!

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  23. Tess!! I'm just getting on my actual computer and I am so excited for you and Joel! I already know your wedding will be fabulous!!! You will be such a gorgeous bride! Have fun planning!! Excited to follow along here :)

    AhhH!!!! I'm just so happy for you!

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  24. Aw Tess! I am SO excited for you love! And he certainly did a great job, love the ring!

    Congratulations! :)

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