Nigel and I had a crush on each other from the first day we met (through my best friend, his sister). As time passed, we became close and started dating in February. On October 1st 2013, Nigel asked me if I wanted to go back to this French restaurant called Les Noces Du Figaro in Downtown L.A. Les Noces is one of my favorite restaurants! I love it, first because the food is amazing and secondly because the interior design & decor is spectacular.

Nigel had set up a really beautiful night. We both got dressed up and he picked me up at my place. He said he wanted to give me this “gift” before going out to dinner. When he came to my door, he gave me a small notebook. I looked at the plain gift for a while, thumbing through the pages, and then I opened the book. There, on the page I had opened to was a  drawing. I could tell that Nigel had been working on for a long time. There was so much detail, shading, and beautiful linework. After looking at the beautiful drawing I remembered that we had taken a picture together during Easter. It was a very special day for me because it was the day when I decided to follow Christ. I started to tear up because I knew how much time and effort he had spent on this gift.

As the night went on, I remember being mesmerized by the evening. The night was like a dream, flowing from moment to moment as if we were dancing. Evening dinner was, as expected, amazing. We had two appetizers, two entrees, a dessert, macaroons and coffee. Towards the end of our evening, Nigel asked me if we could take a few pictures on top of the balcony. I thought it was a great idea since this night had been so beautiful.  As we approached the top of the stairs, our server started to take pictures from my phone. As I was getting ready to smile and pose for the camera, Nigel took my hands and tried to say something sweet quietly in my ear.  I thought to myself, “He’s having one of his loving and sweet talking moments.” But I didn’t want to make the server wait for us, so I pulled him toward me to take the picture. Nigel couldn’t wait any longer. He came close to my ear and said how much he loved me and why he wanted to marry me. I was a little confused, but suddenly, he went down on one knee. We were both nervous and excited. Both of our hands were shaking when he told me he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. I said: “OH MY GOSH, you’re doing it now!”   With LOTS of tears of joy, I said YES!!!

Everybody in the restaurant clapped and shouted “Congrats!”  My ring was beautiful. I couldn’t and still can’t take my eyes off of it. I feel like a girlie girl. I am so grateful that our server spent a few extra moments with us. He was able to capture everything with my iPhone video app. After a beautiful night of dinner and wonder, I kept reliving it over and over in my mind. Later in the evening, I wanted to remember the beautiful drawing that Nigel had created for me. As I turned to the drawing, I noticed one extra detail. Nigel had drawn an engagement ring on my left hand! If I would have been more observant, I could have known the whole time. Everything was perfect! Everything was how it was supposed to be all along!  I became his life and he became my everything.

Thus, a fairytale engagement begins…