Our Story
Meeting up at the July 2004 German Meetup
Ted and Pavlina met at a German Language Meetup event. Having studied German in college and spent time in Germany, Ted had joined the group a few months earlier. Pavlina, on the other hand, had spent her junior year in Germany and was excited to go to her first Meetup. Ted was comfortably seated at the table, having a German beer and chatting with friends when Pavlina walked in and sat down at his table. Ted immediately noticed this new pretty girl and started “chatting her up”. Pavlina told Ted that she had just graduated from Mt. Holyoke College, and that she was living with friends and their two adorable dogs in New Jersey. In fact her friends were out of town, and that day after work, she had taken the hour-long bus ride from New York to New Jersey, had taken care of the dogs and then had come back on the bus to attend the event. Ted was so impressed by her loyalty and dedication and how she so generously shared her fries and cake with him (Ted loves to eat). By the end of the evening Ted had gotten Pavlina's number and email, which he wrote on the back of his business card and put in his wallet. He also walked Pavlina to the Port Authority so she could catch her bus home. Ted was hooked on Pavlina and wasted no time in pursuing her.
The following day, by noon, Ted had already sent Pavlina an email telling her how great it was to meet her. It’s a good thing he did too, because that weekend he unknowingly gave away the business card with her contact info to Dan P’s dad. He found out later that he had done this when he received an email from Dan’s dad signed with “PS sounds hot”. If only he knew!
The next week, Pavlina and Ted met up for lunch in Bryant Park (the first of many) to begin a long courtship. Weeks and months went by and Ted was growing more and more enamored with Pavlina, while she kept insisting they were just friends. Even though she had already given him an inflatable craps dice, a stuffed lobster from a trip to Boston and was planning a surprise for his upcoming birthday. She wanted to do something special for him so she took Ted ice skating in Central Park, then sushi dinner, followed by a night club. Ted was so touched and thrilled, it was his best birthday ever! What a great FRIEND he thought. And soon enough when he invited Pavlina to come to California for Christmas, she finally gave into her feelings for him. It was at Disneyland that they made it official.
The Proposal
After a few great years, Ted decided he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Pavlina. He wanted to plan a perfect proposal, which would catch her off-guard and completely sweep her off her feet. Since we had been discussing marriage often, Ted knew a total surprise would be tough, especially since it is really hard to get anything past Pavlina.
Ted told Pavlina he was going on a business trip to Michigan for the weekend. This coincided with Pavlina’s invitation to visit Ken and Sapana (who she had been living with when they met) and their two kids in upstate New York. Ken had invited Pavlina to their place for the weekend to celebrate Sapana’s promotion. Pavlina was going to spend the afternoon with Ken and the kids and that night they would go out for a fancy surprise dinner for Sapana. Pavlina met Ken in Poughkeepsie and as she was getting in his car, she was startled to see Ted pull in right next to them. Ted was so excited that he left the car running and jumped out. It almost crashed into a fence before he jumped in and slammed the brakes. Ted said his meeting got cancelled and he was going to spend the weekend with them. At which point of course Pavlina got suspicious, she asked Ted for his boarding pass and was convinced that something is up, not today, but probably tomorrow.
Ken suggested that we follow him. After a few miles he turned into the parking lot of the Vanderbilt mansion and told us that his son was having a melt down and he had to take him home. Then Ted parked the car and told Pavlina to come for a walk. He took her down a secluded path near the Hudson River overlooking the beautiful fall foliage and asked Pavlina to marry him. She gladly said yes!
And a few minutes later Pavlina exclaimed: "Wait, we have to go meet Ken and share the news". It was then that Ted told her that the whole promotion and surprise dinner was an elaborate trick. Next up: picnic on the lawn of the mansion including heart-shaped cookies awww. We were both so excited we could barely eat. After lunch we went back to the Buttermilk Falls Inn, where we toured the beautiful grounds, and we almost got killed by the llamas they have on site. We got a couples massage, went out for a romantic dinner and then the next morning we were up before sunrise to take a hot air balloon ride over the Hudson Valley. We capped off the weekend by visiting Ken and Sapana and the kids, at their home and sharing our stories. Of course they were in on it the whole time.
