We found the ring the last weekend of August at a gem and jewelry show. I knew I didn't want yellow gold. I prefer silver and silvery metals. I don't like diamonds, and I wanted something a bit more unusual than the Sapphire rings we were seeing in the regular stores. We liked Sapphire because it's a pretty color and the stone has the same hardness as diamonds so it wouldn't get scratched up in daily use.
At the gem and jewelry show and found a great Sapphire in a white gold setting with little diamond chips on the sides. I really liked it but I wanted to keep looking. We'd been at the show (with Bob's 7-year old daughter Dez) for a couple hours and we were all tired, but I still wanted to look some more. The guy was pushing me to buy it and Dez said, "Kristy, I have to tell you something. When I knelt down to hear it, she said in a very loud whisper, "BUY IT". It was very funny.
We did keep looking and soon the gem show was getting ready to close, but I didn't see anything nearly as pretty, so we went back and bought it. Dez did pretty well also. As we were walking, a vendor said to her, "You don't look like you're having any fun". Our overly honest Dez replied pouting, "I'm NOT. They keep looking at rings, and I didn't get ANYTHING!". So he asked her favorite color -Pink! and gave her a Pink Tourmaline ($35 in his case). He even insisted, "No you don't have to buy anything, it's a gift!" So she was pretty excited about that. Bob also bought her a large Pink Quartz Crystal for her room, which she's more excited about because she can touch and play with it! Well, she is seven! So it was a pretty good weekend for all of us.
All Bob said about proposing was that he had something planned, but the where, when, and how would be a suprise.
We were planning to go to faire Sunday, so I thought maybe....and decided to get dressed up and put on make-up and waterproof mascara (just in case). But I also wasn't counting on it.
Bob was pushing to get to faire early Sunday and once there he wanted to go to the Dragon Inn for a Snakebite with Killians (specialty alcohol drink that mixes Hard Cider with Killians Beer) . I wasn't sure if that was a ploy or not, but again, whatever. He often pushes me to get to faire early so we have most of the day there, and since this was going to be our long day at faire for the weekend, all the more reason. I saw a bunch of our friends hanging around, so I got nervous and excited. But then they kind of drifted away and were off doing their own things, so I stopped worrying about it. We went and watched a lesson in Wenching (where the wenches apply lots of lipstick kisses to a guy). There are a bunch of rules, like asking the girlfriend, so it was fun to watch. Then I was fussing with Bob's costume when suddenly people grabbed my shoulders and were guiding me backward. I was all confused and I was surrounded by the guy's version of the Wenches guild, the Rogues.
Our friend Chris, the leader of the Rogues stepped forward. He said some nice things about me, hugged me and handed me a rose. I looked around. All the Rogues had roses. They each came forward and spoke poetry and pretty words about love and beauty. I blushed, I enjoyed, I became less apprehensive and just relaxed into being treated like a Queen. It was so beautiful. Each Rogue was so sweet and had such wonderful things to say, with such sincerity. I didn't know most of them personally, but they each really seemed to believe that I was pretty and wonderful and my ego just swelled with all of it. I collected roses from each in turn. There was a terribly sweet older gentlman who apologized for being older and having nothing to offer (but he's the one I'd never met that I remember best) and gave me a small faire favor of a rose which I pinned on later. A Rogue I only know as Ralph gave me an amusing business card noting that my hair was georgous, keep it long. A good friend Dennis spoke beautiful words of our friendship. Another longtime friend Ric spoke about my great qualities as a friend as well. Finally I turned and there was Bob, down on one knee. He took my hand, and I felt he was shaking. I was fine until I looked into his tear-filled eyes. It wasn't just shaky nerves, he was really just so overjoyed to be in that moment. I began to tear up right away. Bob started to speak and his voice was choked with emotion. I wasn't sure exactly what he'd said, so I replied, "What?" and bent low. He repeated, "Will you marry me?" And I of course responded "YES". We were two very emotional people shaking as he put the ring on my finger and we hugged tightly.
Then there were cheers and congratulations and hugs and pictures.
It was all very sweet and terribly romantic. Bob got a lot of grief from the guys for not speaking up, but to me it was so much more touching to see how much this meant to him. We both were still a bit shaky hours later. A lot of our friends got to see because they hadn't really wandered away, and we were congratulated by a host of people I'd never met, but they all thought this was so beautiful and romantic.
Yes, the first person I called was my Mom, of course. It was important to me that she be the first to know (aside from the witnesses of course!). After that it was all fair game. I saw as many people as we could. I'm sorry if I didn't get to see everyone or if you weren't there that day. With the circle of friends and faire folks around, I felt the love that I always feel at Faire, I felt the big circle of all the folks that weren't there.
It was a wonderful day that Bob and I both cherish in our memories. Thankfully, we were also able to find pictures that a few people took that day, so you can share in the memory as well.
Click here for pictures of the event, in a neat Photo Albumn format.
Or click here to read more about our wedding planning!
