Hello from Dan and Mich!

If you’re on this page, we assume it’s because you were interested in all the details of how the proposal happened – so please bear with us if you find it a bit lengthy :)

Dan: I wanted to surprise Mich. I thought that a good way to do this would be to set up something in her room while she was out of the house. When I found out that she had a shoot that was supposed to end late on Thursday night, I decided it was the perfect opportunity.

Weeks before the proposal, Mich had asked me to make sure that, when I proposed, she had her DSLR with her so that she could take some pics of the event.

I decided to trick her into thinking that the proposal was going to happen on Saturday (the actual proposal happened in the wee hours of the morning on Friday), so that the proposal would catch her even more off guard.

I explained to her that my parents had bought her a special gift, which I thought she would love to take some good photos of. I asked her to bring along her DSLR when we met on Saturday.

This way, I was pretty sure that Mich would assume the proposal would happen on Saturday, so the actual proposal would be doubly surprising! :)

I got to Mich’s house at 10:30pm on Thursday. Putting up the decorations, hanging the Christmas lighting, setting up the table and laying out the food, getting the music ready, rearranging some of the things in Mich’s room, lighting the 130 candles… it took me a lot longer than I’d initially expected.

I thought that Mich would come home by around 12.15am, so I was rushing around frantically to get everything ready! In the end, she got home at about 1.30am, so I didn’t have to hurry at all.

Mich: Yes, he got me good! I did suspect that he would propose on Saturday as he never asks me to carry my camera out. Although logically we had no alone time on Saturday – so I did also wonder if he was trying to throw me off and was planning to propose on Sunday instead. I totally didn’t expect him to be at my place that night, way past his bedtime!

The shoot overran and by the time I got home, it was around 1.30am. I was sticky, tired and hungry and was debating going to bed earlier without food. I noticed my room door was closed (it never is when I’m out of the house) and thought perhaps my younger brother was hanging out in my room.

When I opened my bedroom door, I saw a ton of candles leading up to a heart shaped with candles. I couldn’t really process what was happening and thought maybe I entered a different dimension altogether. I was prepared to step out of the room, close the door and reopen it again. Dan was on the side of the L-shaped room and totally not within view at that point! My mind was pretty much switched off by then so I was just happy to see him and get a hug at the end of a long day.

Mich: Pardon the background of my messy room – it tends to get crazy the busier I get. Had I known, I’d have cleaned it up a ton more… Oops. After stepping in and giving him a hug, I noticed the room was incredibly hot and offered to turn on the a/c without thinking – he reminded me that all the candles would be blown out. So we decided to take some photos before returning to cooler temperatures. I had to control my desire to take a ton of photos of the great set-up as I didn’t want to keep him waiting too long while I was snapping away haha. The poor sweetheart had been sitting in the dark and sweltering heat for a long time, waiting for me to be back!

After the photos were taken, it was a/c and lights on. It was a pity because the candles were so incredibly beautiful! And I had never lit candles in my house before as my dad gets somewhat paranoid about the house burning down. So I’m surprised Dan got the permission to light this many candles in my room :)

Dan: I was overjoyed to see Mich, as I always am :) I was also pretty glad when she suggested that we turn on the a/c, because I had been sitting in the non-a/c room (which was getting warmer and warmer by the minute because of the 130 lighted candles) for more than two hours.

Knowing I was about to propose—that gave it a grand, momentous feel to the event. But at the same time, seeing Mich and giving her a big hug… that gave me a sense of reassuring familiarity and expectant certainty about the proposal and about our future together. It was a wonderful mix of nervous anticipation, uncontainable elation, and quiet confidence.

And yes, Mich’s dad did come into the room a couple of times to remind me to “please be careful and don’t let anything catch fire”. I can verify that the house, indeed, did not burn down. Thank you for the reminders and for allowing me to break your house rules just this once, Mr. Ng :)

Mich: He then lead me through all the photos and notes he had stuck up on both sides of my room. I was still trying to process everything…

Dan: I chose the pictures because they represent meaningful events and milestones in our relationship. It was fun reliving these precious memories!

 

Mich: After going through the notes (melt-worthy!), he had flowers ready – roses and eustomas (my new favourite ever since he bought a bouquet of eustomas for me previously). I said thank you and that we could move on to the food so he could go back to rest. Again, not thinking! He reminded me that he wasn’t done and hadn’t actually proposed yet. Oops!

Dan: I ordered the flowers two days in advance but the florist wasn’t able to get the champagne roses (her original favorite) in time and so red roses were used. You’ll definitely be getting many champagne roses from me in the future though, Mich :)

Mich: He had written a poem to read it to me. We were both standing up at the time, but my feet were pretty sore from the shoot so I asked if we could sit on the floor while he read. His rhyming was awesome. Towards the end, he said “To this poem there are just a few more lines until the end, but the conclusion is important, so your listening ear I’d like you to lend.”

He then popped up to get the ring box before returning on bended knee… with me still sitting on the floor. It had never occurred to me to get up, but this worked out anyway :)

And so… he asked me to marry him and be his wife. No surprises there – I said yes!

Dan: What can I say—I’m happy she said “yes” :) I’m also happy that Mich made me feel at ease while I was reading the poem. I felt kind of awkward, because sometimes poems are easier to write than they are to read out loud?

Mich: We then moved on to the table he had set up. Oxtail soup made by his mum, fruit bowls prepared by mine, and lana chocolate cake specially bought for the occasion. Topped with pretty water glasses that I never knew my family owned…  And all on the table that he had specially brought from home!

Dan: I knew that Mich would be hungry by the time she got home, so I arranged for the mini-dinner. Thank you to both mums for being part of the proposal through your food prep :)

Everything ended at about 4am after we cleared everything and packed the table and bags back into Dan’s car. We were tired but happy nevertheless. :)

So there you go, the story of the proposal. We’re excited to be starting a new chapter in life and look forward to sharing more with you!