Jamie and Alec

Posted Monday, August 17, 2009 12:37 PM

Jamie: We were down in New York visiting my family for the weekend. I was on vacation, and that was all I could think about.

Alec: Seriously, it was the first weekend in months that she wasn't checking my pockets and digging through my bags looking for the ring.

Jamie: So, Alec came up with this idea to go into Brooklyn on Saturday morning to go to the Botanical Gardens. I was like, "Brooklyn?! Why do we want to go all the way to Brooklyn to see flowers?!"

Alec: Yeah, I didn't count on how much you hated the NYC subway system.

Jamie: Well, he started going on about how the cherry blossoms were out and how it reminded him of DC. So I agreed. Ma (my grandma) pushed us out of the apartment early that morning to go catch a train so we’d have enough time at gardens.

Alec: She was great; she couldn't handle keeping the secret any longer and just wanted us out of the house!

Jamie: It took about an hour to get there, and by that time, the morning coffee was hitting both of us, so before stopping to see any flowers, we ran to try to find the bathroom.

Alec: Normally I’d say that part of the story isn’t relevant, but keep in mind that I had an engagement ring burning a whole in my pocket.

Jamie: After making it to the bathroom, Alec practically dragged me to go walk through the Japanese Hill and Pond Garden. It was a perfect day, 70 and sunny, not a cloud in the sky! There were people everywhere!

Alec: And when she says everywhere, she means EV-ER-Y-WHERE. Now, I had arranged to have a friend of a friend "tail" us in the gardens to take pictures, so I was more than a little anxious about finding her amidst the throng of people. Throughout the morning, I had been sneaking off to send and receive text messages scheming out exactly how she’d find us to take pictures.

Jamie: I had no idea he was doing all this at the time.

Alec: So, we were walking and walking and getting near the end of the path, and I still hadn’t found the right spot or the photographer, so I decided to go off-script. I had "coincidentally" brought a disposable camera with us.

Jamie: He handed the camera off to a young couple walking by and asked them to take a picture of us in front of this blossoming cherry tree. I prepared for the picture, trying to put my arm around him, when he fumbled with his pocket and said, "This might come as a surprise..." and got down on one knee.

Alec: Right in the middle of the path..

Jamie: ...and then everything was a blur -- all I saw was him down there, holding the most beautiful ring I’d ever seen.

Alec: I did actually say the words, "Jamie Leigh, will you marry me?" She snatched it out of my hands right away, but then handed it back to me saying, "You have to put it on my finger!"

Jamie: I don't know how he did it; my hands were shaking so fast!

Alec: People were walking by saying congratulations. I heard one woman say, "Hey, look, he's proposing!" One couple even told us to make sure we have lots of babies!

Jamie: And we have pictures of the whole thing!

Alec: Yes we do, both the surprise shots and some high-quality "posed" shots (we did eventually find our photographer friend).

Jamie: After that, we rushed off to a waiting car and driver to take us to lunch and a Broadway show. He even had champagne in the car and everything.

Alec: Yup, we did a Broadway show, a wonderful dinner with her family, and a night in the city at the Gramercy Park Hotel.

Jamie: And too much champagne.

Alec: Yeah, we couldn't get away from it.

Jamie: And that's our story.