By Emily

Ryan and I met at work. We both used to work as mechanical engineers, and we had the same job at different work sites. While we would often bump into each other, our relationship was limited by the hour we lived away from each other.

That was all supposed to change when Ryan found an opening at my work site and and decided to transfer. I was the first one he called. We were finally going to be close enough to develop a deeper relationship. There was one problem. The day he called to tell me about his transfer was also my last day at the company. The job opening that he had taken was the one I created by quitting.

I hung up the phone and thought to myself, “well, I guess I’ll never see him again.” That could have been the end of our story, but I’m so glad it wasn’t.

A couple of hours later, Ryan sent me an email and asked for my phone number so he could get a hold of me for “work questions” after I left. I gave it to him and told him we could have lunch to discuss “office politics.”

The rest of the story is history. Calls about “work questions” developed into late night calls where we discussed our hopes and dreams. Lunches to discuss “office politics” grew into fun happy hours and eventually romantic dinners. And then . . .

By Ryan

It all started on Halloween. Emily had to take her car into the shop for inspection, and I was off for the afternoon. No sooner than she pulled out of her parking spot, I threw on my peacoat and hustled down to Jeweler’s Row. I already had a ring picked out.

The thing that is important to know about Emily, is she’s the type of person who likes to know everything. The kind of girl who tries to open all of her Christmas presents before they even go under the tree. So I had to be careful not to spoil the surprise before I had the opportunity to pop the question. It was going to be a long month trying to keep that secret.

Receipt for a ring in hand, I headed back to our condo and started to plan out the perfect proposal. Over the last year, Emily and I had fallen in love with our new home in Old City Philadelphia. History down every alley, restaurants on every corner, and plenty of parks to hang out in on a nice day. It was the perfect place to propose…and where better than right in front of the iconic Ben Franklin Bridge.

I had the whole night planned down to the minute. Emily and I would go down to a fancy restaurant on the water (an excuse to dress up), after which her brother Blaise would text us and casually ask us if we wanted to meet up for drinks after dinner. Little did Emily know that while we were getting those drinks, my brother Kyle and his fiancee Lauren would be setting up our condo for a surprise celebration.

It was the day of the proposal. I thought to myself that there was no way that I had gotten away with keeping everything a secret. The day before, I had even suggested that she get her nails done, and when she declined, I had to pretend I wanted to learn how to paint nails and do it myself...there was no way she didn’t know what was coming.

We headed out to our dinner reservations at the place that we would later choose to be our reception venue–the Moshulu. After a couple drinks and a great meal, we headed out to meet Blaise at Race Street pier. I told Emily that we picked that location to meet because it was halfway between the Moshulu and the place we were meeting for drinks. Only problem is that it was 15 degrees outside, a 20 minute walk, and the bar we were supposedly going to was not even open. All the more reason I thought she might be on to me. All the same, we met Blaise at the end of Race Street Pier and we asked his Fiancee Kristina to take a picture of us. Shivering under her parka, Emily agreed. We snapped one picture and Emily started to sprint towards the warmth. I had to ask her for another picture though, because this time I had something I wanted to give her.

On November 24th, 2021 at 8:24pm I got down on one knee and proposed to the love of my life.

The look on her face said it all. She was certainly and definitely surprised. We hugged, kissed, took a few more pictures and then headed back to our place where there was one more surprise waiting–a living room full of our friends and family excited to celebrate with us.

We popped champagne and celebrated our new engagement. It was the perfect night.