The first question people always ask is: Were you surprised?

Well yes, and no.

People who know us well will tell you that Jeremy and I have wanted to be married for a long time. I always told Jeremy that I wanted him to propose by giving me a kitten with a ring attached to its collar. However, when a stray cat turned up on the doorstep and quickly became a part of our family, I accepted that a kitten proposal was probably off the table. Jeremy would just have to find another way to surprise me. How he would surprise me though was a bit of a mystery. We had my ring size measured in early 2021 when the pandemic was still in full swing. When April approached and I was scheduled to receive my second vaccine, I think we both felt that the time was finally right. Jeremy suggested we should have a date that Friday when we could stay in (i.e., quarantine style), dress up, and cook a nice dinner (a vegan steak dinner). The perfect proposal setting, no?

That same week, Jeremy declared that he was expecting a package.

That package never arrived.

I wasn't too concerned until it was clear that Jeremy was quietly panicking, rapidly shooting off messages through his phone.

Did Jeremy order the ring through the mail? Did Jeremy LOSE the ring the through the mail?!

So I asked him, "What did you order, hon?"

He paused. "Nothing," he replied, not terribly convincingly.

Umm.

Now it was my turn to quietly panic. That conversation took place on Wednesday, just two days before the big Friday date.

Fortunately a package addressed to Jeremy DID arrive on Friday. He opened it and showed me the contents: a candle, scented sea salt and rose. This was the package he was waiting on. He wanted to give it to me as a gift, he explained, so we could light it for our dinner date. I love candles. It honestly smelled great. I breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't lose the ring. Maybe he wouldn't actually propose to me that evening after all?

We lit the candle and enjoyed our meal. After some time, Jeremy interrupts and asks me to check out the candle. "It looks like it's not burning right," he says.

I get up to look at the candle and all I can think is:

Is the ring INSIDE of the candle?!

Of course, there was no ring inside the candle. But when I looked down into the candle jar, under the thin layer of melting wax, the curly words looked back at me:

Hadley, will you marry me?

And of course, I said yes.

After exchanging the ring and a few joyful tears, I finally asked him what happened to the package. It turned out that the original package with the candle was stolen, and Jeremy emailed the small Etsy business with his plight, and they miraculously agreed to make him a new custom candle to send to him overnight. Now we giggle thinking about the surprise someone must have received after lighting the stolen candle. Was this candle given as a gift to someone's wife or girlfriend? If so, they are probably VERY keen to figure out who this Hadley person is...

Thanks in advance! We can't wait to see you all in person at the wedding!