Proposal Date: 11/11/14
Location: Weller’s Carriage House, Saline MI
Rachael, life-long lesbian. Attorney. Ginger.
Nicole, bi, newly out. Writer.
Nicole: We met online as friends but couldn’t stay apart from that moment on. She hit me like a freight train. I was completely closeted and she had a girlfriend, but we both knew immediately that we were the perfect fit people dream of finding. It hurt to be away from her for any amount of time and though we both knew it would upend our lives, we went big and took the leap. No leap of faith has ever paid off bigger.
Nicole planned a surprise autumn proposal for Rachael.
Nicole: Christmas was coming and I knew she might propose. I wanted her to get the experience of being proposed to. I got up on a Tuesday morning and pretended to go into work. But really I went to get supplies for the proposal. When she came home from work that evening, I’d carved four pumpkins on the porch to say “Will You Marry Me?’ and hung a framed poem I’d written her on the front door. When she walked in I turned on the music—Tim McMorris, Overwhelmed—and waited upstairs in our bedroom. The first thing she saw was a wall of 100 aqua and gold balloons with jingle bells holding them down. Candles and notes led her upstairs, where there were more candles. Five-dozen red roses and petals led her through the kitchen and back to the bedroom to me. When she opened the door, she was already bawling. I told her I couldn’t wait anymore, that I needed her to marry me. We both bawled and everything was magical and glowy and the music was perfect.
Rachael: I was on the phone when I came home that night so I completely missed the pumpkins. (Which I’m glad about, the surprise was better) When I saw the poem on the door, I immediately started crying. I thought it was a late anniversary gift. When I walked through the front door, it was like stepping into another world. Surrounded by balloons and candles, I stood in the doorway just talking it all in, still unsure what was going on. As I walked through it, the music was playing, and there was a line that said something about ‘asking you to be my wife,’ and I knew. I lost it. I couldn’t get to her fast enough, but I didn’t want to rush to moment either. It was so perfect and magical.
After I said ‘Yes!’ Nicole took me to dinner at the place where we had our first date. I was in shock all night. I never thought I’d be proposed to. I never knew I wanted it until it happened. It was amazing and now I can’t imagine it any other way.
The ladies will wed on 6/18/16. Below, pictures from the night of the proposal.
Rachael and Nicole among the balloons.
She said “Yes!”
Rachael showing off Nicole’s pumpkin carving skills.