What happens in Vegas....doesn't always stay in Vegas! I came back with a permanent accessory on my left hand :)... I had no idea this was coming, that's for sure!
We planned a trip to Vegas for my roommate's 21st birthday. The plan was to walk the strip and sight see good ole Las Vegas, take fun crazy pictures, dine at a couple snazzy restaurants, maybe a Circe Du So Lei show, dancing the night away and shopping till we dropped. (Matthew, I might add dropped.. lol! I'm sure it was an insight on girls and their 'energizer bunny mode' when it comes to the pleasures of shopping in Vegas and more specifically, that wonderful store called Forever 21. Yes, what a great age, and yes, we definitely took.. FOREVER! Matthew was like, “gee, we have this store in Utah.” No love, we do not. lol) My vacation was already far better than amazing just by being surrounded by good company and palm trees instead of dreary snow blizzards. I loved soaking up the warm weather! Just imagine a nice little get away to the city of sun. Are you imagining that? Great, well of course, everything gets better.. lol. Onto the proposal right? So, it's towards the end of our Saturday afternoon the next day (he's getting really antsy and all worked up about shopping all Saturday morning for Sarah's birthday, like he has other plans I was unaware of. I was there to just take everything in and tag along so to speak...but Matthew was dead set on getting out of there be a certain time because he had something he wanted to do.) He suggests we should head over to the Venetian and mentions that he wants to take me on a gondola ride. Just the two of us, while they finish shopping because he just wanted to spend time and relax with me. aw, how sweet :). I secretly really love and enjoy that sentimental stuff. So we walk down the strip and make our way into the exquisite hotel. The boys take off once we get to the Venetian and go to the bathroom, talking amongst each other.. yea right, guys going to the bathroom together right? And they specifically asked to take Sarah's purse, another big flag right? What guy take’s his girlfriend’s purse to the bathroom with them?Apparently I didn’t think twice about it at the time, what does that say? lol. Even with side comments and remarks about being married and proposals throughout the day from Matthew never made me think twice. We had just barely been dating I might add. Looking back on things now, there were so many hints... like Sarah cringing when I went to grab something out of her purse like she was hiding something right after we passed Kay's Jewelers everyone got awkward and kept looking at me expectingly. Yes, everyone was in on it and I was really oblivious to every clue that was stuck in front of my nose that whole entire weekend lol. Anyways, Matthew finally gets tickets for the gondola and we split paths with our buddies. While waiting for our gondola ride we got some 'him and I time' which was really nice as we sat in the square waiting for an evening show they put on to start. He kept fidgeting with his pockets, little did I know he was probably reciting his lines and making sure the ring was still in his pocket. One thing I remember was my confession that I had been by the jewelers to try on the ring he picked out a couple days before our Vegas trip and my ring that we mutually liked had been sold. I was really sad because I knew he really liked that one specifically and the both of us were excited to have found a ring in general so quick since we perused through the selections online a little bit as well. But his response was "Im sure we can get it online or look at others. We can pick out a different ring later." So I was imagining we still had to FIND a ring, not that in a few moments I would HAVE a ring, lol. Anyways, onto the romantic little ride... he bought out all the seats so it was just the two of us! How cute right? Everyone commented on how he was such a little romantic. That of course makes me grin from ear to ear. Every girl loves those sweet sentimental type things guys do for them. I will admit, I go weak at the knees for corny and sweet stuff :). And we had this really cool Italian singing fellow that pushes the little boat along the canal for us, giving us little facts about the Venetian city of love throughout the tour. We couldn’t have gone at a more perfect time because only once a day in the evening all the lights dim in the hotel and the courtyard gets quite romantic. It made the atmosphere so amazing and I was totally swept off my feet by this. As we are about to go under a bridge up ahead, still in the dim lighting of romance, our Italian tour guide stops talking. Just literally stops talking... It gets quiet all of a sudden and so Matt is like "We should open our fortune cookies now." (previously went to panda express and he bought a bag of fortune cookies to open up for fun on our ride as a little treat because we both like reading the little fortunes together. He said it would be like good luck or something, lol.). So i'mlol. I was so confused. When has a fortune ever said my name and had hearts on it non the less? Then I read the whole thing a couple times trying to process it in my mind. He all of a sudden gets on one knee in front of me as I’m still perplexed on how to take my fortune.. “was it a prank? Was it really from him and was it just like a commitment question-not the real thing?” I realize he is kneeling and as he grabs my sides, pulling himself closer to me, I am like "VANESSA, WILL YOU MARRY ME!?" reading it out-loud at this point, making it more real. All I can get out of my mouth is "Oh my Gosh, Oh my gosssh!" He says his sweet nothings in my ear and asks the big question. I, without hesitation except of course. He then finally pulls out the ring and what was our moment under the bridge together was now a public viewing as we were riding along the canal we ended up in the middle of the entire swarm of people on all sides of us cheering, clapping and hooting as he slid the ring on my finger! I think the whole entire Venetian hotel was there to share our happy moment and put us in a huge spot light! The Italian guy was the best, In his accent he said "She said yes Erebody, Erebody she said yes!" to every passerby and every bridge we drifted past. It was such a cute proposal idea because I lived in China for a year so the fortune cookies were very fitting. Very fitting indeed. Brownie points for his creativity right? And little does he know that I've always been intrigued by Venice. It's a bucket list thing lol. My proposal was so great because it was just he an I secluded on this little gondola and it was personal.. I’ve always thought I’d want something personal to share between just the two of us. But it also ended up being public all at the same time because all of the people that crowded around looking down on the lovebirds in the canal made it even better with their approval and excitement for what's going to happen next in our lives!
It was so hilarious to pass by couples we had befriended while waiting for the individual tours on our way back to Sarah and Mike because it was so unexpected and it just knocked their socks right off, lol. I couldn’t even help but to look down at my own hand repeatedly saying “I’m engaged? I’m engaged! I’m engaged? I’m engaged!” I was never fully aware of my surroundings the rest of that night because I was so overwhelmed.
I do remember being given the best advice ever from that Italian gondola fellow and it was to enjoy the special night and to wait to call family members.. I’m so glad I did because the second I called my mom the next evening it felt like two hours later with questions I wasn’t even prepared for like grandchildren, lol! Apparently everyone knew, family members and all!
But, to make this long story a little shorter, I just want to add how happy I was to have had Matthew show up in my life and decide he would like to spend the rest of his with me. I adore his proposal and it couldn’t have made me happier. :)
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