Since Juleen has written her side of the marriage proposal story, I guess I should write mine…
It all began about a year ago when Juleen keep hinting me to propose. Now being a practical guy, I am never good in this kind of things. For me, marriage is a kind of progression in life. It is like when you feel you are old enough, mature enough, ready enough then you can start to think about marriage. All you need is to suggest to get married, choose a date and lets get married. That is called being PRACTICAL. However on the other side, I know to make marriage special and memorable I need to put in effort to make it unforgettable. One of the way is to propose like what we always see in the movie or drama. After talking to few female friends, I started to realized proposal or even marriage is a GIRL’s thing. They treasure good proposal and marriage more than guy. No wonder, if possible a guy wouldn’t want to go through the whole process of proposing and marriage ceremony. Too troublesome, too much hassle, too much effort and money spend without equal return satisfaction to the men. But for girls, however, it is the reverse. To go through the process of proposing and getting married is a special thing. It is D – Day for most female. So since Juleen has been so sweet to me all this while, I thought I shouldn’t disappoint her. It is too cruel if I do…
Therefore, to propose is never an option for me. In fact, to propose in 2008 is one of my new year resolution. It is a must do thing for me this year. I was thinking of the right date to propose and it took me a while. I need to make sure so many things. I have to make sure I am financially able to provide, I need to make sure I have the house, I have to make sure I am the right one for her and etc etc. After much thinking, delay and procrastination I thought December will be the right date. Why December? Because by December I will know how much is my bonus and my increment. Sound silly but in this world there are certain things you can’t do without money. One of such is a proper marriage.
To be frank, I have not decided on the date until after the 1st week of December until I found out about my increment and bonus. I quickly look for availability and settle with Dec 26. I thought it is a special day since 26+12=38 and 38 is our special number. Don’t ask me why? I also don’t know but because we are so fond with the number 38… our new house number is 38, Juleen’s diamond is a 38 pointer and so on.. Hehe! Since it is a day after Christmas I thought I would just ask Juleen to buy me a Christmas present. I think that is a smart move because not only I got the book I have been waiting for, the book will also act as smoke screen so Juleen won’t know I will be proposing on that day (I just found out she knew long time ago. Girl has very sharp instinct I tell you).
The Snowball
After some suggestion from a close friend, I thought Sassorosso is the right place. The restaurant is very cozy, quiet and not too crowded with people and since I am a very reserve person (yes,reserve person still can write blog) Sassorosso is just nice. Besides, they offer really good authentic Italian cuisine at reasonable price. Being a kiasu, I booked the restaurant 2 weeks in advance and requested a specific table. I got the reservation but not that specific table though since they have a private function booked inside the restaurant. But that’s okay, everything still turned out fine. Remember, always learn to improvised if you don’t get what you wanted..hehe!
On the day, my feeling was mixed. I was a little scared but mostly excited. However as the hour got closer I find myself a little clumsy and tense. I feel myself unease, worried Murphy’s Law will take place and was rushing for everything. Even when I picked up Juleen I have to intentionally force myself to look cool so that I won’t get into unnecessary conflict. Ohh… when I am unease, I will get impatient and always end up in conflict with Juleen (since she is closest to me).
To cut story short, we reached there on time, had very nice dinner, and propose. This is how I propose… after the dinner I told Juleen I wanted to have a chat with the waiter. As I approached the waiter, I quickly pull out the ring and ask him to put it in the bill folder and wait for my signal. Upon the signal, the waiter bring the bill over and I opened the folder and proposed. Juleen wasn’t too surprise but waiting for her answer is kinda torturing as I feel many people are looking at me (I am not worried Juleen will say No..hehehe). That is how I proposed, simple and sweet…
We initially wanted to go to No Black Tie to listen to some jazz music but decided not to since the champagne make Juleen a little tipsy and sleepy..hehe! For the rest of the story, please read Juleen’s thought in the previous post. I am just excited it is over and now we have to worry about something else. We have to plan for our wedding reception…Can I sigh? Hehehe…
After the dinner
On top of sharing my thoughts on my proposal I think I should acknowledge some people for making this proposal a successful one. They are like the unsung heroes behind my successful proposal. Without them, I think my proposal will be a dull one. Top on the list is TC (as seen in the picture below..hehe). Allow me to introduce, he is my Fund Manager. This guy is amazingly NICE. He is the one that show me various places to propose. Not only show me but he is so willing to spend the money so that I have the experience before making up my mind where to propose. He also shared so many creative ideas to propose. When I say “creative”, they are really creative! This guy is really good in these things. But what is more important is how often you can find a boss that is so generous, friendly and helpful?Very rare…
I also wanna thank my colleague like Shiu Lin, Kar Fu and Calista for their ideas. My colleagues together with TC has inspired me to be a better man rather than just being a practical man! Thank guys!
And later on I wanna engrave our names on 
hahaha )
