Pop open the champagne because I’m getting married! I meant to share our proposal story two weeks ago but time ran away from me with some major projects coming through at the last minute (my sincerest apologies).
First let me just say thank you for sending the well-wishes on my Instagram announcement. It meant so much to me to see you as excited as I am. I can’t wait to share my entire wedding planning journey with you. You asked if I knew he was going to propose. The answer is…sort of.
T and I went ring shopping two years ago while on a trip to Virginia around Thanksgiving. We hit up Zales and a few other smaller jewelry stores inside Potomac Mills mall in Woodbridge to get my ring finger measured and also to give him an idea of the type of ring I wanted. I always thought my engagement ring would be a three stone diamond on a halo band. You know, bling bling. Perhaps it would have still been my favored ring choice had I been engaged in my twenties. Tastes change with age and I just wanted something simple, elegant and timeless.
We had discussed getting married in 2020 but it didn’t come to fruition because my dad passed away last summer and we knew the timing wasn’t right. Was I frustrated at not being engaged? Of course! But I am a firm believer in God having the right plans for me so I bode my time and practiced patience. Then coronavirus happened back in February and all plans went down the drain. T ordered my custom ring back in March (which I didn’t know about) but then things shut down so no ring was in sight until mid July. He later told me about the whole drama with the ring, which was delivered an hour before we were to leave for Virginia.
Backstory: T was anxious to propose but the jeweler had shut down operations due to Covid-19, so they sent him a less expensive decoy ring that looked similar to mine for him to propose (I still have the ring and plan to use it as a travel ring). He wanted the real thing so he decided to wait for the actual ring to come. Even receiving the package required him to trick me. I get so many packages during the day and I’m usually the one who answers the door. The FEDEX driver rang the doorbell but my downstairs neighbor intercepted and signed for the package. I asked T if he could go get it for me. He immediately opened the box and hid the ring then came back upstairs and said it was Amazon. On to the proposal story.
As you know, we went to Virginia in early July to pick up my nieces Adjoa and Kaira for a summer in NYC. Apparently T and my brother had been planning the proposal prior to that and he had intended on asking me that weekend. Sadly, we got to Virginia too late so he scrapped the plan. At this point, he’d already enlisted Kaira, the 7 year-old, to be a part of the proposal. So since she was going to be with us for two whole weeks, he and my brother implored her not to spill the beans about the proposal. Looking back now, I realize that there were certain instances where she was close to just telling me but would run to T instead.
So after two weeks of vacay in NYC, it was time to take the munchkins back to Virginia. The proposal was again set in motion. We got to Virginia about an hour before sunset. I was in the living room with Adjoa, the 3 year-old, watching Paw Patrol when my brother Kweku came inside and asked to see my phone. I didn’t think anything of it because he’s the tech guy and usually upgrades my apps. It turns out T had set up the Bose sound system on the balcony to play music but my phone’s Bluetooth hijacked it. Gotta love technology right?
Roughly ten minutes later, my brother came back inside and asked me to come outside because T wanted to talk to all of us. Again, this wasn’t unusual because he normally sits with all of us to check in on the family and make sure everyone is still coping well with the dramatic change in family dynamics with my dad’s death. I picked up my niece, sprayed both of us with mosquito repellent and went to the balcony.
My mom and two little brothers were standing there on their phones while “I’ve got you under my skin” by Frank Sinatra played in the background. I was still clueless at this point because my mom was on FaceTime with my uncle and my brother was on his phone with my cousin Kwamena. With my niece still attached to my hip, my brother asks me to look down in the backyard. There was T and my niece Kaira holding up signs with a perfectly orchestrated move to spell our “WOULD YOU MARRY ME?”
What made this moment special was the fact that T chose to wear the special Ghanaian garment my mom had made for him on her last trip to Ghana and he also chose the right venue, my childhood home, to propose.
It started registering what was happening. My uncle was asking who was standing down there and my mom replied, “he’s proposing!” So then he asks me to come downstairs. With Adjoa still attached to my hip and refusing to get down, we both descend the basement staircase, walk out the fenced in area and walk to the open field overlooking the river in our backyard as the sun went down.
There, T got on his knees and asked me to marry him. The moment I had been waiting for was finally happening and my brain was playing catch up. Before I could answer, Adjoa looks at me and points to the full moon and exclaims, “look the moon.” I look up and stare in wonder at what she’s looking at. Then T says, “hello pay attention” while Kaira shakes her head. I finally look down at him on his knees with the most beautiful ring in hand and with tears in my eyes simply say, “YES! OF COURSE I’LL MARRY YOU!” and sealed it with a kiss.
We went back inside as the phone calls started to come in from my aunts, uncles and cousins. News travels EXTREMELY fast in Ghanaian households. T then popped open a bottle of champagne he had stowed away in his backpack for the occasion. It was bittersweet because at that moment I wanted to share it with my dad. So I cried a bit on my mom’s shoulder as she comforted me and told me this is what Dad has always wanted and that I should be shedding happy tears instead of reminiscing about something I couldn’t change.
The rest of the evening was just family time. We didn’t tell friends for a few days because we wanted to tell T’s parents and family members, who live in France, before we broke the news to everyone. We had a Zoom call with them when we came back to NYC the next day.
So what’s next? We’ve set the date for September 4, 2021 in France. We’re so excited to start the wedding planning process. I can’t wait to share more details about the venue selection, gowns, bridesmaids and all things wedding related with you.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we’ll have coronavirus under control and travel restrictions lifted. I hope you enjoyed our proposal story. I’ll do wedding Wednesday’s to share planning content with you. In the meantime, you can check out #GlamazonGetsMarried hashtag on Instagram for more photos.
P.S. My dress is from the Halogen x Atlantic-Pacific collection. Sadly it’s sold out. The shoes are Tabitha Simmons ‘Millie’ I ended up destroying on the Brooklyn Bridge because my heel kept getting stuck in the planks. The hat is Jacquemus. T is wearing a Theory suit with a Louis Vuitton shirt and tie and Zara shoes.
A special thank you to Allie Provost of Pret-a-Photo for waking up at 6am to meet us on the Brooklyn Bridge to take these stunning photos.
