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The ‘Secret Proposal’ which I have guessed it all along.
I know my man like the back of my hand. He isn’t great at telling secrets. Thus, when he insisted on travelling to Japan last December, I knew that he has something up his sleeve. As a good and mindful girlfriend, I just acted stupid and played along.
Nearing our trip to Japan, he also acted suspiciously and gave a really lousy excuse when he could not meet me up for an event. In fact, I knew the actual reason why he could not make it – he was shopping for my engagement ring.
Despite me telling him that a proposal isn’t really necessary, he still insisted on the proposal. Since he was pretty adamant about it, I suggested that he maybe should just do a simple proposal. I even told him that I would not mind receiving an inexpensive ring that costs below $500. Because diamonds and precious stones aren’t things I really fancy about. I wasn’t being frugal or anything but that’s just me – I am someone who is not after the material world.
But I would have guessed it, he went all out for this proposal. Because he wanted the proposal to be really special. To be really honest, it doesn’t really matter much to me as long as he is sincere about it.
How his original proposal plan failed?
His plan was to get down on one knee during a special evening light-up at the Bamboo Grove in Kyoto. The moment we reach there, he will pop up the ring box to show me the dazzling Princess tiara ring which he has specially chosen for me.
But along the way, I changed our travel itinerary and he had forgotten that the day of this special light-up was on 22 December. Truth be told, I had absolutely no idea he was going to propose on that day. Since I wanted to maximise time, I shifted the bamboo grove visit to 23 December. By the time he realised it, it was already too late.
I still remembered clearly that evening where we made a mad rush to the bamboo forest as the sky was turning dark. We walked through the grove in the pitch darkness in search for a glimpse of light which was nowhere to be found. When we started seeing visitors turning back and leaving the forest, we knew that there wasn’t going to be any light show that night. I could see how utterly disappointed he was and how pissed he was. And I could not figure out why he was so irritated by the fact that we missed the light show. Until the next morning…
Luckily, there’s plan B.
I guess after that evening, he got over it and came up with plan B. He apologised for how upset he was and suggested that we visit the bamboo grove and Togetsu-Kyo bridge the very next morning before leaving for Osaka. I wasn’t very keen because I wanted to sleep in and then have a lazy breakfast before taking a train to Osaka.
But he was determined and I just had to comply. At the back of mind, I was still thinking to myself of how inflexible he was. Was it that important to visit the Bamboo grove? Couldn’t we give this attraction a miss? There was some tension between us but I tried to keep my cool. We’re on a holiday after all, right?
After walking through the Bamboo forest, he wanted to head up to the observatory deck but he ended up leading me to the wrong path. Since time was not on our side, we decided to give it a miss and headed straight for the bridge. Then he said this to me, “We need to ask someone to help take a photo of us at the bridge”. At the back of my mind, I was like ‘What’s so special about this bridge?’
Proposal plan B was a success.
We strolled by Katsura-gawa river which flows pass Arashimaya forest and under Togetsu-kyo bridge. There was a calmness in the water and tranquillity in the surroundings but I was somewhat irritated at Sam for making me visit this bridge early in the morning. This place did not really entice me.
When we reached the bridge, I thought to myself ‘Is that it? What’s so nice about this Togetsu-kyo bridge?’ (He later explained to me that the significance of this bridge. To-get-Su, you get it? ‘Shu’ happens to be part of my Chinese name.)
Then Sam hurriedly looked for someone to take a photo of us with his phone. He happened to spot this young couple who happened to be Singaporeans too. What are the odds! Thank you, Stanley and Rachel!
After they took a picture of us, Sam blurted out, ‘Wait! There’s something else…’ For a moment, we all look rather puzzled. I thought he wanted to take out a camera and get the couple to take another snapshot for us. As he fumbled and dug deep into his coat pocket, he started to give me his signature cheeky look. It’s almost like a smirk across his face.
Within seconds, he whipped out a squarish dark blue box. What’s with this box?
Oh. It’s my engagement ring.
The couple beside us got the hint and I asked if they could help us with the photos. Sam was obviously so nervous until he had almost forgotten to get them to document this special moment! Documenting these precious moments are important to me. And I’m glad there was someone to help us capture this special moment!
It was nonetheless a rather awkward moment for me as he seemed rather nervous. He did not say much to me either because I was quite sure that he did not want to rest his knee on the cold hard ground for too long. Besides, it was so chilly outside. And my hands were freezing.
“Will you marry me?”
Instead of saying yes, I responded with an ‘Okay’ and a nod. He looked stunt for a bit and kept smiling to himself. The inner Singaporean girl in me said ‘Put on the ring lah!’ Then he quickly took the ring and slot into my finger.
Did you notice anything peculiar about the way I wore the ring?
As one of his friends has guessed it, he got bought a ring too small which could not even fit pass the middle of my fourth finger. So as not to hurt this pride, I only mentioned it to him after the couple who helped us took this photo left.
He being such a klutz, I am not surprised that this happened at all. Thankfully, he told me that the ring could be resized.
At least, he managed to carry out his proposal plan. Thankfully I did not exactly ruin his plan. But even till now, he was a little hard up about the fact that I screw up his initial proposal plan.
Watch our short proposal video right here!
My Princess Tiara Ring
Lucky, my man has got good taste. He chose a ring from Ivy Masterpiece that fits me quite perfectly. It was a beautiful and unique ring that resembles a princess tiara. Both of us like the colour blue so he chose a ring with a pear-shape sapphire stone along with small round diamonds.
Unfortunately, the ring looks a little different after it was being resized. According to the jeweller, they had to add more rose gold to the ring band itself to enlarge it.
After they enlarged the ring, the opening behind the sapphire got bigger too. As a result, the sapphire appears to be more opaque than before. And it did not look as blue as it was before. But I guess I could not expect much since the ring was enlarged from size 9 to 12 and a quarter.
Even after we went back to the jewel for another consultation, she only gave us the option of filling the hole under the sapphire with metal. However, we might have to pay a little more for this additional modification so we just left the ring as it is.
It is beautiful but it’s just a pity that it wasn’t the same as before. Even the jeweller’s brand name, which was engraved on the inner band of the ring, was blurred out after resizing.
The ring marks the start of a new journey.
After receiving my engagement ring, it got me thinking about why engaged and married couples wear rings. A quick Google search reveals that the ring symbolises eternity. And since the vein in your fourth finger of the left-hand runs directly to the heart, wearing a ring on that finger is a declaration of eternal love. How sweet.
I guess it also marks the start of a new journey as we have to start looking into our wedding planning and housing matters. And I will be doing in-depth research about Singapore weddings and share my findings. In the meantime, If you have any wedding vendors or partners to recommend, do let me know!
