the story

For those of you who don’t know . . . (drum roll, please)

BRYAN WATTS AND ELISABETH ROBBINS were engaged to be married on Wednesday, September 21st 2005.

The short version is something like this: Bryan asked, I said yes and we’re very happy. What follows is the long version of the story that Bryan and I wrote together so that you could get both of our perspectives on the event(s). Bryan’s comments are in brown.

At the end of our girl’s “summit” in Oklahoma, I returned to work to find that I had one vacation day left before my vacation time rolled over on September 22nd. I asked Bryan immediately if he could take a day off sometime during that week – what better way to spend an unexpected day off than with the guy that you really like a whole lot? We decided to take off Wednesday the 21st and the next day Bryan informed me that he had deemed that day as ‘Elisabeth’s Special Day’ and he wanted to plan the entire day for me.

Truth be known, I was sweating when she told me she had an extra vacation day. I was so worried that I was going to give something away when I volunteered to plan a day for her. I had already asked her boss for permission to take her away for a few days for the engagement. I was worried that when she went in to ask for her vacation day, the word might somehow slip out. In the end, it actually worked out better than I could have imagined as you’ll read in the next paragraph.

Now, I’m not completely stupid. (I hope!) At this point in our relationship, my mind had been looking for signs of a proposal of marriage. We had been talking openly about getting married and I knew that at this point, Bryan had already hung out with my parents while I was out of town AND both of our parents had met while I was in Oklahoma. But Bryan had told me weeks before that he already knew the exact day that he was going to propose to me and I had just found out about this extra vacation day. So in my mind, a proposal was impossible.

What she didn’t know was that I had already asked her parents for permission to marry their daughter. She also didn’t know the extent to which our families had met. We had both agreed that we really wanted our parents to meet each other before we moved forward with engagement and marriage plans. When I found out that Elisabeth was going to be out of town for a bit on the same Sunday that I was joining our church here in Charlotte, I jumped at the opportunity. In Elisabeth’s mind, our parents were going to have a brief encounter at church and at the visitors’ lunch afterwards. What she didn’t know was that my parents had made their way down to Charlotte on Saturday night and the two families had spent 4+ hours at dinner getting to know each other.

Bryan had been giving me little (vague) hints about my special day throughout the week. Things like:

1. We will be traveling
2. We’ll be doing something we’ve never done before
3. We may be having a nice dinner.

I gave her a few other hints as well, a few meant to lead her away from my plans. ;-)

The night before, he had me pack a bag with clothes and toiletries. He informed me that we had a place to shower and change for dinner. He had me pack five days worth of different types of clothes so that I would be prepared for anything that we might be doing that day. And I suspected nothing but threw random clothes into a bag, all the while thinking how silly but fun this was.

Again, I’m very thankful for the vacation day! I was already worried that my crazy packing list would give something away, but it would have been even more of a problem if she hadn’t known about any of the plans for Wednesday, as I would have been forced to try and pack for her myself after dropping her off at the spa (read on below).

The next morning, Bryan picked me up at 8:30am for breakfast. We went to John’s, our favorite Saturday morning breakfast place. At the first opportunity, Bryan jumped up to whisper to our favorite waitress what his plans were for me that day. (I was later to find out that practically EVERYONE knew what his plans were for me that day – except me!) After breakfast he pulled up to Oasis Salon and Spa and said that this was my next stop and told me that someone else would be picking me up at 2pm to take me to him. I cried, walked into Oasis, and enjoyed four hours of pampering.

Soon after dropping Elisabeth off, I sent an email to most everyone we knew in Charlotte to fill them in on the news and invite them out for drinks on Friday night to celebrate. So, yes, most everyone did know my plans.

Afterwards Julia Chitester and baby Cole (who had apparently refused to nap at home with Caleb) picked me up and started driving me towards my next destination. I asked her if she could tell me where she was taking me. She handed me the journal that Bryan and I keep and told me to look inside. There I found a note from Bryan along with a boarding pass for a USAirways flight to Charleston, South Carolina! I don’t remember much else about that trip to the airport. When Bryan had told me that we’d be traveling, I was thinking Lake Norman or Kings Mountain or somewhere close by. Then it hit me that maybe I shouldn’t have ruled out a proposal. I mean, this was a lot of work for just a special day, wasn’t it? I must have verbalized this thought to Julia because I remember her telling me that it’s best not to think that it will happen, because then I would just be setting myself up for disappointment on my special day. I must have accepted her advice because I really didn’t think about it again.

Thanks Julia (and Todd)! You were a huge help in all of this! From your advice to me, to the ride to the airport, and even throwing Elisabeth off the engagement trail!

(Sorry, this is turning into a novel!)

Bryan was there at the airport in Charleston to pick me up and I was SO happy to see him. He asked if I wanted to go to Sullivan’s Island (our favorite beach), and on our way there I found out that we were going to Hank’s for dinner and that our reservations were not until 9:30 PM. Bryan said that he would drive home and that I could sleep the whole way so I wouldn’t be tired for work the next day. (How sweet!) Once on Sullivan’s Island, we stopped at Dunleavy’s Pub for a beer and some wings before going for a walk on the beach.

$2.00 drafts (not domestics) and 25 cent wings made this a cheap snack. I’ll be back to Dunleavy’s for Happy Hour in the future! Not only was it cheap, but the wings were grilled, which made for a very interesting flavor. I should probably stop talking about the wings and beer now, lest Elisabeth think this was the highlight of the trip for me!

We walked all the way to the southern end of the island and saw the beginning of what promised to be a great sunset. He pointed out this amazing fishing boat (that happened to be just like every other fishing boat out there) and when I turned back around to ask him what was so special about that one, he was on his knees. He asked, I said yes, blah, blah, blah. Then he pulled a piece of paper and a ring out of his pocket. He handed me the paper and told me that this is what my engagement ring was going to look like. Then he put a ring on my finger and told me that it was the best cubic zirconia ring that Wal-Mart had! Later he told the story that the company that handmade the real ring had been located in New Orleans. After the hurricane they moved shop up to New Jersey but the man who does the filigree work on the rings had not yet arrived.

There I was on my knee, and she still didn’t know what was coming! She really was convinced that this wasn’t the day! I was just happy to find that the “stand in” ring didn’t turn her finger green over the course of the next few days!

Adorned with my gorgeous Wal-Mart rock, my fiancée and I headed back into Charleston and before I knew it, I was ushered in to a beautiful room at the Harbour View Inn, with big French doors overlooking the bay. In the room were a dozen red roses and a bottle of champagne. As I started moving about the room I noticed that all my clothes were unpacked and I was informed that we didn’t have to leave Charleston until morning. (Bryan had gone behind my back and talked to my boss.) So, I showered and got ready for dinner. Over champagne Bryan and I called our parents and grandparents to tell them the good news. And during the walk to Hank’s for dinner, we called a few friends. Over dinner there is yet another surprise! Bryan casually informs me that he has actually gotten me out of work for the rest of the week and we aren’t going home until Friday night! So my Special Day turned into a Special Few Days!

“It’s about time,” was the phrase we heard from our grandparents. Sheesh, we’ve know each other less than a year and been dating less than that. Was it really that obvious for so long that we’d end up together? I mean, I only knew Elisabeth would be the girl I married from the night of our first date. As for Hank’s, we nearly closed the restaurant down. I couldn’t leave without a piece of pecan pie to follow up an amazing rare seared yellow fin tuna steak.

We spent the day on Thursday just walking around Charleston and talking. My parents were in Charleston the whole week for some training, so we were able to have dinner with them that night at Red’s on Shem’s Creek. On Friday, Bryan told me that I still had three surprises left. We spent the afternoon at the beach, Bryan sunning and swimming, while I tried to figure out what else I could possibly be surprised about! We got our salty, sandy selves into the car at 4 PM and started driving towards Charlotte.

Despite Jean’s fears (Elisabeth’s mom, for those who don’t know), it really was GREAT to have the Robbins in town and to be able to celebrate over dinner so soon. As for the day at the beach, Elisabeth forgets to mention that we made our usual stop at Simmons seafood market for a pound of fresh shrimp and a nice fillet of Mahi.

Surprise No. 1
We stopped at my aunt and uncle’s house near Columbia, SC, to have dinner with them. (And to shower, thankfully!) I had mentioned to Bryan my desire to get together with them before they left for the Ukraine to pick up their new daughter. My parents were there too, and it was great to be able to share our news with the four of them and spend time there.

You should have seen me trying to steal Kay and Brad’s phone numbers out of her cell phone earlier in the week so that I could call them and set up dinner plans on the preceding Tuesday.

Surprise No. 2
We hopped back in the car and drove to Charlotte, and somehow landed at the Capitol Grill, where Bryan’s family, more of my family, and many from our church community greeted us with applause and hugs. There must have been 30 people there. It was absolutely amazing and so very special!

Thanks to all of our friends and family for showing up and helping to cap off an amazing week with a great celebration among our community!

Surprise No. 3
Just after we walked into the Capitol Grill, Bryan came up behind me, opened a box and presented me the most beautiful real diamond ring. It had arrived that morning and his mom and sister had picked it up at the shop. Although I had grown slightly attached to my Wal-Mart ring, I quickly traded it for the real one.

Thanks to Mom and Ashley for picking up the ring for me on Friday! Though, it was so beautiful that I was afraid they weren’t going to give it up!

As I told someone there that night, “This is the best engagement story that I’ve ever heard! I can’t believe that it’s my story!”