Engagement and the weeks leading up to it -- Full Story w/pics! Part Three, Final

The Proposal (and bad-timing on the song playing in the background!)

Read Part One Here

Read Part Two Here

On September 24 we joined Eler Beth and Anthony and his parents for lunch at a restaurant on the river here in Jeffersonville.  It is where they had their first dinner date. To keep her from getting suspicious we had Anthony's dad ask to go there.

Andrew had to work that day and couldn't get out of it, so he and Alexandria weren't able to join us.  But Anthony's sisters and his brother-in-law were there, unknown to Eler Beth. Without her seeing them, they hid themselves on one of the decks where they could witness the proposal and film it.

The six of us ordered our drinks and appetizers, and enjoyed nice conversation, along with the restaurant's specialty bread, olive oil, and cheese. I was surprised that Anthony seemed so relaxed.  After they brought our appetizers we ordered our entrees, enjoyed some of our starters, and then Anthony suggested to Eler Beth that they go out on the deck to "see if there were any ducks or geese on the water."  Thomas suggested they take some of the bread with them to toss to the ducks if they were there.

As Anthony and Eler Beth got up to leave the table, Tom excused himself to go to the bathroom (really to join the other kids on the side deck), and Melissa and I got out our phones and poised ourselves to jump up from the table to station ourselves at some of the long windows to get pictures. Thomas elected to stay at the table to enjoy his calamari and watch my and Melissa's purses.

Later Eler Beth told me that she had been really cold and was thinking, when Anthony suggested they go outside, "Oh good! Now I can get warm!"

There were geese on the water. So they tossed a bit of bread.

This is how it went down as Eler Beth later told me.  Anthony said to her, "You know I love you, right?" which didn't set off any alarms, she said, because he's always saying that.

Then he took one of her hands, which also didn't set off any alarms.  He started to take her other hand, but still had bread in it. LOL  She said he turned and tossed it into the river, so he could take both of her hands in his. She had only time to think, "Oh. My. God."  when he went down on one knee and pulled a box out of his pocket.

I knew she was going to turn her head away like that.   

This is where she looked around and saw Melissa taking pictures. She didn't see the others until a bit later.

When he set the box on the rail in order to put the ring on her finger, all of the women in our group were thinking, "Don't let it fall over!"  
   

He asked, and she said, "Yes!"   

I absolutely LOVE the expression his face here.   

Needless to say, she approved of the ring! 

The look you can just barely make out that is taking form in her eyes in this picture? Yeah, that's her thinking, "You knew! I'm going to kill you!" But she won't. LOL  She was very pleased about the whole day.

The weather was wonderful, and so was the day. 

But when we had all gathered on the deck to congratulate the couple and admire the ring, Tom brought it to our attention what the song was that was playing in the background:  "It's a Mistake" by Colin Hay (Men At Work). We got a good laugh out of that 'cause we all knew it was most definitely NOT a mistake.  :)