Heather and Craig

Posted Wednesday, January 21, 2009 4:00 PM

Shortly after Heather and I started dating, we went away for the 4th of July weekend to Martha's Vineyard. While there, we stopped at one of those fudge places. They also had some retro candy, including Ring Pops. I made a joke that if I was going to propose, that's the ring I'd do it with since it was multifunctional!

Fast-forward to Thanksgiving, when I spent the holiday with her family. I already knew Heather was the one I wanted to marry. We looked at rings (briefly), and I’d actually picked one out and bought it shortly thereafter. The day after we arrived, I finally got her parents alone (a whole comedy of errors for another posting) and asked their permission. They were so excited.

I told Heather that I wanted to take her out for the first night of Hanukkah to Blue Water Grill, a nice romantic seafood restaurant we’d been to before. I’d told Heather that we were meeting college friends of mine at Max Brenner's for dessert after. Max Brenner's is the location of our first date when we reconnected in early 2008.

After dinner at Blue Water Grill, we headed to Max Brenner's in Union Square. I had prearranged with the managers my "plan." First, I acted as if I got a phone call and my college friends had to cancel. Since Max Brenner’s ALWAYS has a wait, I told Heather that a coworker’s roommate worked there and got us on a VIP list to bypass the line. (This was all done a few days prior, so it was "natural.")
Also unknown to Heather, I arranged for a friend of mine who she’d never met to be at the next table armed with a camera to take pictures.

Heather and I ordered, and I had arranged for the server to come out with the dessert with a candy Ring Pop on the plate. When the dessert came, I got down on one knee and proposed to a totally shocked and happily surprised Heather. To be honest, it's SUCH a blur. I remember telling her how much I loved her and would she marry me. Shell-shocked, she asked if this was serious -- and I said yes and asked again. Around us, the people in the restaurant who saw me on bended knee and ring in hand erupted in applause when she said YES!

I placed the ring on her finger. The manager brought us champagne and we toasted our engagement. The whole thing was caught by my friend’s camera (I’m so glad that part was arranged!).

After leaving Max Brenner’s, I had arranged for Heather to not only have the next day off from work (she thought her boss had given her an all-day assignment that she’d have to start), but also a spa suite at a midtown hotel in NYC complete with a two-person Jacuzzi tub.

After weeks of "deception" sweaty palms, sneaking around and such, I am so excited to know I get to spend the rest of my life with the woman I love.