Kristine and Gino

Posted Monday, May 18, 2009 10:17 AM

I was turning 25 that year, and knowing that Paris was my favorite city in the world, my parents decided to give me a trip to the City of Light as a gift. Our first day there, which also happened to mark our 100th "month-sary," started off a little rocky. I had been in a bad mood for some reason, but as soon as we stepped foot on the Trocadero and got our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower, everything was right with the world.
 
Gino and I did a bit more sightseeing and met up with a photographer he’d hired to take pictures of us on our trip*. At the end of a wonderful day, we stopped off at the Trocadero to have one last look at the Eiffel Tower before heading back to our hotel for a late dinner. We sat down on the large steps and were lucky enough to catch the Eiffel Tower sparkle. When the sparkling had ended, I told him how perfect I thought everything was. Here I was in the most romantic city in the world, sitting in front of the Eiffel Tower with the man I loved 100 months after we first became an "us." I couldn't believe how incredibly fortunate I was just to be in that moment.
 
He told me he loved me and asked me what I was thinking. My mind must’ve been somewhere else, because while Gino was trying desperately to be romantic, I kept pointing out the tents set up around us and mentioning how it must’ve been for Fashion Week. Eventually, he took my hands and said he had a question to ask me. He then got down on one knee, fumbled to pull out the ring**, and asked me to marry him. As soon as he reached into his coat pocket, I realized what was happening and burst into tears. I don't even remember if I ever really said “yes” because I had been crying so hard. 

*He had originally planned on having the photographer there when he proposed, but at the last minute, he decided against it because he wanted to keep it a private moment, unspoiled by any camera flashes.

**Which he had helped design and got custom-made. On the inside, there's an inscription that says, "Ni vous sans moi, ni moi sans vous" (loosely translated as "not you without me, not me without you"), a quote from the French version of Tristan and Isolde -- the perfect way to encapsulate our "Frenchanting" engagement story.