Our Engagement

Last year, on Valentine's Day, I told you about Husband and how we met/fell in love. I also promised that one day I would tell our engagement story.

Read on, if you'd like...



In October of 2009, we took a trip to the UK to visit family and friends. There wasn't anything particularly different about this trip, we had been there before and we were really excited to see everyone. Little did I know that Husband had planned to propose to me on this trip.

Before we left, we had decided that we would take a mid-week trip to Ireland (Dublin). Often when we're there mid-week, people have to work and get on with their day to day things, so it's nice to take a few days away for a little holiday within a holiday. So one morning, we woke up very early, to drive to the port in Wales to catch the ferry.

When we arrived in Dublin, it was a little bit rainy, and we had a tough time finding our hotel. We wanted to save money, so we opted to walk there. We ended up walking for an hour before we found it, but eventually we arrived.

To this day, I can't put my finger on why, but I kind of freaked out. I just had this feeling that something wasn't right. So I had a small meltdown. The bigger problem? Nick had planned to propose that evening and was now thinking he had to change course.

after he calmed me down; enjoying dublin

Being the wonderful guy that he is, he was able to calm me down, and we ended up having a great day exploring the city and an even better evening drinking Guinness and watching Irish dancers.

When we got back to England, his parents were eager to find out about the trip, thinking that we were going to come back engaged. They must have been so confused when all I said was that we had a great time.

Now, poor Nick had the pressure on because there were only a couple days left of our trip, and he wanted to propose while we were still there.

We continued doing the things we had planned, including visiting my family in Liverpool. Afterwards, he took me for a walk at a castle. When we got home, his parents asked - very hopefully - how our day had been. 'Great!' I replied 'we went for a walk at at castle!' <insert confused and still anxious in-laws-to-be here>

visiting a local castle. status: not engaged yet.

It was our second last night. We had planned on having take out (fish and chips, naturally) and playing games with his parents. We had such a great, relaxed evening. We played tons of games - I won a lot of them - and had lots of laughs. Nick's mum and dad went to bed and we were left to relax in the conservatory. We were snuggled there, looking at the sky and I remember turning to Nick and saying 'I'm so happy'. Right then, he knew this was his cue! He asked if I wanted a snack (specifically Doritos) and left the room. He came back in, walked over to where I was sitting, and got down on one knee. I won't tell you the speech, but I can confirm it brought tears to my eyes. I said yes! We kissed, hugged and were all-around giddy.

engaged!

Nick ran to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of champagne from the fridge (what great in-laws, having champagne already chilled) and toasted our engagement. Just us. It was absolutely amazing.

The next morning, equally giddy, we headed downstairs for breakfast. I had pulled the sleeve of my sweater down over my hands to disguise the ring a little bit. We hadn't been up long before my lovely mother-in-law spotted the ring. "Emma Walker, what is that shining on your left hand?!" she asked and we were jumping, and celebrating all over again.

When we arrived back in Canada, I wanted to wait until my entire family was together before sharing the news. So even though my dad picked us up from the airport, I wore the ring on my necklace (hidden by a scarf) so he wouldn't see. Little did I know that Nick had asked my parents for permission, so they were waiting to hear the news. He was giving Nick the 'eyes' on the way home, trying to discern what had happened and why I wasn't wearing an engagement ring. We got home, I slid the ring on, and we gave the news to everyone at once. Celebrations once again!

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