Rocket City Bride

Bride-to-be Name: Maggie Hutnick

Groom-to-be Name: Andrew Marshall

Engagement Date: 03-23-2012

Engagement Place: The Chelsea Restaurant in New Bern, NC

How did the two of you meet?
Well, actually we met on Match.com.

Bride-to be: How did he propose? What was your reaction?
He proposed after dinner in our favorite restaurant. We had just finished our meals and he asked if I wanted dessert. He knows I never pass up dessert however, on this occasion I was pretty full. I told him I didn’t care and he seemed sure he wanted something. Dessert came to the table very quickly, and it took me a minute before I could realize what was going on. I was staring at the chocolate sauce on cinnamon ice cream thinking wow that came out quick. Then I noticed written on the plate were the words “will you marry me?” I remember my mouth dropping open and saying, “what’s going on?” By the time I looked up he was already on one knee beside the table telling me he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. I cried, and then I said, “You got me good. You got me SO good!”

Bride-to-be: Did you have a clue he was going to propose when he did?
Yes and No. I knew it was coming. I even knew it was coming THAT NIGHT. I just thought it was going to be after dinner. He had been telling me all week we were going out to dinner on Friday and then we were going “somewhere special”. I thought if I could just make it through dinner I would be good. When I read the proposal on the plate in the restaurant I was stunned. I couldn’t believe it was actually happening and I had NO CLUE. I think I may have sat in silence before saying “ABSOLUTELY!”

Bride-to-be: What did you appreciate most about how he proposed?
How seriously he took the whole process. He thought about how he wanted to ask me and what he wanted to do. He planned everything out perfectly; even how he was going to get the ring out of his truck and into his pocket without me noticing. He purposely parked his truck incorrectly because he knew I would notice. Then when I mentioned something about his parking, he hopped in the truck to fix it and asked me to guide him into the spot. I thought he was just having trouble parallel parking, but he was really getting the ring box out and putting it in his pocket! He got me good!

Groom-to-be: When did you first realize you wanted to marry her?
The first time I realized that I wanted Maggie in my life forever was when I recognized her ability to completely understand me, her intelligence, and her motherly instinct. That happened very quickly in our relationship. It only took a few months of spending time together for me to know without a doubt that this was the only woman in the world for me. She has changed my life in so many positive ways. It’s very difficult to imagine my life without her now.

Groom-to-be: How did you choose the ring? Did anyone help you?
Yes. Maggie and I went ring shopping a couple times at a few Jewelers. The tone of her voice and the way she reacted to her engagement ring is how I chose it.

Groom-to-be: How did you come up with your proposal plan?
I came up with the proposal plan by thinking of a way to trick Maggie. She is extremely intelligent and very in tune with how my thought process works. I had to devise a fail proof plan that would shock her. It had to be a diversion plan. The way it was planned was that the whole night I had to have her thinking that dinner was just “dinner” and nothing else; and she had to believe the proposal was coming after dinner. That plan played out for a week. Asking her where she wanted to eat and acting like the particular restaurant didn’t matter gave her the impression that it couldn’t come at dinner. The entire plan was orchestrated with the district manager of the Chelsea and it was imperative that we ate dinner at that restaurant.

Groom-to-be: How would you describe your nervous level between 1 and 10?
(1 = Totally Nervous and 10 = Totally Cool)
I would say I was at least a 1! Maybe even a zero! I had to try very hard to control my emotions that night. I used every breathing exercise I knew and had to force myself to think about small talk to distract myself from my nervousness escalating.

Groom-to-be: Did the proposal go exactly the way you planned?
Everything went almost exactly as planned except for one small detail. The ice cream bowl that was delivered with dessert was sitting on a flat dinner plate that had “will you marry me?” written on it. With the plate sitting in front of her, she could not see the “WILL YOU” written on the back of the plate because the bowl was in front of it. A very small detail that really didn’t matter, she still was able to see the Marry me and she was shocked. It was the happiest moment of my life to that point.

Groom-to-be: Any advice to the single guys out there who are thinking about popping the BIG question?
Do not take the cheap route. A woman that makes you fall in love with her, deserves the best you can give her; both mentally and physically. If you choose to ask a woman to marry you, make sure you take the time to plan something special for her and buy her a ring you know she deserves. Make the engagement the most special occasion she has ever experienced. Don’t hold anything back.

Photography by N’Sight Photography

Bride-to-be Name: Michell Ford

Groom-to-be Name: Gary Moore

Engagement Date: 4/14/2011

Engagement Place: At home

How did the two of you first meet?
I first noticed Michell from a distance while at work back in May of 2003. Later that day, while looking for a parking space at Wal-Mart, I almost hit her! So, that was our first up-close encounter.

Bride-to be: How did he propose? What was your reaction?
In April of 2011, Gary asked would I like to go out, let the garage door up, and do some star-gazing. While we were sitting there, we talked about life, our future, what we wanted for ourselves, and our children. We’d talked about marriage before but nothing serious. He pulls out a black box and starts playing with it. He said this is an empty box, but I thought of you so I picked it up. He went on to talk about how important marriage was and what it meant to him. So he places the box down on the table. At that point I pick up the box and start pitching it up in the air. After sharing what marriage means to me, he removes the box from my hands so I could focus on what he was about to say. He asks, “If I asked you to marry me would you?” I sarcastically stated, “I don’t know. Are you asking me or something?”. He opened the same box I failed to look in while I was pitching it in the air, and asked “Will you marry me?”. I replied softly “Are you serious?” He simply said “Yes.” The rest is history.

Bride-to-be: Did you have a clue he was going to propose when he did?
The subject had come up before, but never in a serious conversation.

Bride-to-be: What did you appreciate the most about how he proposed?
I like how true to form he stays. Gary is a very detailed person. He made sure that we had the conversation about life and the direction he was headed before he asked to marry me. He made sure that I fully understood the gravity of the situation before becoming a permanent part of each other lives. I love him for that.

Groom-to-be: When did you first realize you wanted to marry to her?
I’ve always said she is everything that I am not. She is able to see the good in every situation or able to make someone’s biggest problem into just a small misunderstanding. It was a number of actions that made me want to marry her, but there was one day that stands out. As we were leaving work one day, I was stressed out about something that happen at work that day. I was complaining as we were about to walk out the door, she interrupted me saying “Stop right here and take that work stress off. You can put it back on when you get back in the morning”. That was a small statement but it was powerful to me.

Groom-to-be: How did you choose the ring? Did anyone help you?
We had been to the mall widow shopping and we stopped by the jewelry store just to look at different things. I was able to get a feel for what she liked.

Groom-to-be: How did you come up with your proposal plan?
The original plan was to do it with family at Sunday dinner. I told my mother and brother already, but when the time appeared to be right, the plan changed.

Groom-to-be: How would you describe your nervous level between 1 and 10? 1 Totally Nervous and 10 Totally Cool I wasn’t nervous at all.
Michell is the kind of woman that is very approachable and she embraces you for who you are, not for what she wants you to be. So there wasn’t a reason to be nervous.

Groom-to-be: Did it go exactly the way you planned?
No, it was spontaneous.

Groom-to-be: Any advice to the single guys out there who are thinking about popping the BIG question?
Timing is everything!!!

Photography: Ron Corn Photography