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Terms of Engagement
Read the winning engagement stories from the Best Marriage Proposal contest, cosponsored by Marriage Partnership and Robbins Bros Jewelers.
posted 9/12/2008
 2 of 12
Some friends and I drove to the camp to get the canoe. And two nights, some spray-painted cardboard trees, and several floating candles later, I was ready to propose.
After a nice dinner, I blindfolded Rebecca and drove her to the YMCA.
I led her inside and took off the blindfold. She couldn't believe what she saw: the canoe floating in the indoor pool, large spray-painted trees, floating candles, and a few dozen friends and family I'd invited for the event. Even some of the staff at the Y stuck around to watch!
We got in the canoe, I paddled out to the center of the "lake," and while trying to balance the boat as I got on one knee, popped the question. She accepted!
On the way back to the edge of the pool, I saw my friends waiting to tip us. So I saved them the trouble. We both got soaked, but at least it wasn't an icy lake!
Nathan and Rebecca VanderMolen
Hometown: Grand Rapids, Michigan
Married: July 4, 2003
Horsing Around
On the day we were celebrating two and a half years of dating, my boyfriend, Jamie, asked me if I wanted to go horseback riding. I was disappointed, because I thought he might be planning something special to celebrate, perhaps an engagement. But I agreed anyway, and we headed to the stable.
After we'd been riding for a while, the trail guide began to lead us through the woods. As we went around a bend in the path, I noticed two red roses hanging in a nearby tree.
I looked at Jamie, but he didn't seem to notice. So I clumsily maneuvered my horse to retrieve them, and discovered another set of roses in a tree farther up the path. I continued on my horse to collect five pairs of roses, each pair attached to a white piece of paper.
We were both laughing as I tried to hold on to thorny roses, papers, and stay on my horse!
After I collected all the roses, we trotted toward a clearing that overlooked the beautiful hills of New York State. My heart was racing as I thought, This is it!
Suddenly the horses were startled by the sound of music—the Hallelujah Chorus! There in the clearing was a table with two chairs and a white tablecloth. On the table were a bouquet of flowers, a vase for the roses, two wine glasses with sparkling grape juice chilling on ice, and an open Bible with another rose on top.
We sat at the table, and I read the papers attached to the roses I'd gathered. In sequence, they formed a poem Jamie had written for me about our relationship.
After I read the poem, he picked up the Bible and read verses from 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter. As he finished reading, he closed the Bible and handed it to me. On the front was engraved my future married name.
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