Our Story
How We Met
Christina and Jonathan met playing against each other during a softball game at the end of 2007. Jonathan's team needed a player and some teammates suggested bringing Christina on board in early 2008. After several months of playing softball and hanging out together, their relationship started turning romantic.
For their first date Jonathan took Christina to Tree House Grill. There they discovered they had more in common than just softball. They both work at Dell, love playing volleyball, camping and enjoy chocolate, cheese and wine.
Soon afterwards Jonathan realized Christina was breaking through all his defenses and they decided to become exclusive. Since that first date their love has grown and they look forward to spending the rest of their lives together.
The Proposal
Christina's side
Jonathan set the stage nicely. Months before he planned on proposing, he had mentioned at a party that we wouldn’t be getting engaged until after the holidays. “We have to survive Christmas first” he said. That put the seed in my mind that he wouldn’t be proposing for a while. Little did I know that he was already ring searching and planning our weekend getaway.
Six weeks later Jonathan and I went to San Antonio for a mini vacation. When he first broached the subject of this trip to me, I immediately thought “this would be perfect for an engagement!”….then just as quickly I squashed that idea since he had mentioned a month before that he wanted to wait till after the holidays. pfft! Ok …so this getaway was not going to be the ‘moment’, however, my mind couldn’t shake the idea completely and 5% thought MAYBE!!!!
Saturday morning we ran the Keep Austin Weird 5K, in the pouring rain no less! After the race we rushed back home to pack and headed out to SA. Jonathan had booked a room at the Hilton Palacio del Rio which was right on the river walk, even had a private balcony!! Once we were checked in we headed down to the river walk and had a few drinks. For dinner we decided to eat at Aldo’s, a very nice Italian restaurant. One of our favorite places to dine at in Austin is Tree House Grill and Aldo’s is very similar. After a few more drinks in our hotel room we took off for our destination. Anyone who’s been to SA knows that the highway system is less than desirable (a complicated mess!) and very difficult to navigate…after 20 minutes of confusion and misdirection we finally found the restaurant.
As we’re walking up to the entrance Jonathan grabs my hand and turns me around. He’s already down on one knee and holding a ring! OMG OMG OMG! “Christina, I love you, will you marry me?” Promptly my cute little coach clutch decides to throw up its contents all over the ground as I start crying and say “of course!”. Mwah, kiss, SWAK! I put on the ring and I’m just blown away by its beauty. Jonathan did good!
Dinner lasted 3 hours and was all talk of how he found the ring, how long he’d been planning this day (6 weeks apparently), and calling family and friends to share the news. So many people knew! I can’t believe they were all able to keep quiet. Jonathan even asked my dad for permission! I was so excited I couldn’t even eat (yes, I know, me not be able to eat?). We had a wonderful evening and weekend celebrating our engagement.
The Proposal
Jonathan's side
I proposed. She said yes! :-)
Full recap:
Months before he proposed, Jonathan decided to look for a ring. Wanting to keep the proposal from Christina, after finding what he thought was the perfect ring, he engaged her friends for their opinions. With their approval he started making payments on the ring, knowing that if he had it in his possession he would propose sooner than intended. Wanting to propose on the anniversary of their official move to “boyfriend and girlfriend” was out of the question as his sister was getting married that weekend.
Weeks before the planned proposal date, Jonathan suggested he and Christina go for a small get-a-way to San Antonio. To keep Christina off track when talk of proposal came up, he stated he wanted to “get thru” another holiday season to make sure all is well.
Days before proposing Jonathan made the final payment for the ring. Next Jonathan had to wait for the right time to call Christina’s dad to ask for his blessing. Luckily 3 days before leaving for San Antonio Christina took Sarah for a walk and Jonathan used that window of opportunity to make the call. With Karl (and Judy’s) blessing, it was just a matter of keeping Christina from being suspicious.
The morning of September 12 Jonathan and Christina ran the “Keep Austin Weird” 5K, and then headed to San Antonio. Once arriving in San Antonio Jonathan could barely wait until dinner at Aldo’s, where he planned to “pop the question”. The couple went for a walk on the Riverwalk, and then went back to the hotel for nap.
After navigating their way around San Antonio’s perplexing road ways, they arrived at Aldo’s Italian Restaurant. As they walked to the door, Jonathan took Christina’s hand, turned her around, knelt down and said “Christina, I love you, will you marry me?”. Christina’s eyes watered, purse popped open and she said “Of course”.
Dinner lasted for about 3 hours included phone calls to loved ones and talk about everything that lead up to the proposal. The rest of the week they spent enjoying the Riverwalk in San Antonio.
