We had a trip to Belgium planned for many months ahead of the proposal, which included us flying into Paris for a day and then continuing on to Brussels. There isn't a more romantic city in the world, so the day and the location were decided and the planning could begin.

I stumbled on a website for the Peninsula Hotel, which has an incredible restaurant and a rooftop bar. Buried at the very bottom of the restaurant's website was a single e-mail link stating that a "special secret table" was available and to reach out to the hotel for more information. Turns out, the hotel has a private terrace at the very top of the hotel overlooking Paris and the Eiffel Tower that could be set up for a table for 2 - I immediately knew this was going to be the spot! The hotel was informed about the proposal plan: the terrace was to be decorated with flowers and candles, the photographer was to be there prior to our arrival and most importantly, this was to be kept a secret until the moment of the proposal! As a last detail, I needed an "excuse" for us to get dressed up and go to this particular spot without Lindsey suspecting anything.

I was working in Charlotte, NC at the time, and my boss, Karim, happened to be from Paris. When Lindsey visited North Carolina one week we planned a dinner for all of us to meet, and naturally we asked Karim for a whole list of recommendations for restaurants, bars, and things to do. Obviously I had made sure that the Peninsula Rooftop Bar was at the very top of the "must do" list - the trap was set!

As everything was falling too perfectly into place, the event we were going to attend in Belgium was canceled. All that planning and luck of things falling into place couldn't go to waste - so I had to do perhaps the all-time easiest sell of an idea: since we already our flights to Paris booked and already had time off of work, what if we still went on the trip and just did the full week in France instead? Lindsey needed very little convincing of the genius of this plan, so the heist was back on!

A few weeks prior to the trip I told Lindsey that he managed to snatch a reservation "at that place Karim highly recommended" for drinks and that we should pick somewhere nice for our first night dinner after, we were full go with the plan and Lindsey did not suspect anything in the slightest. The day of our departure to Paris has finally arrived, which nerve-wrackingly for me also happened to be the day the ring insurance policy was finally fully approved and active, just a few hours prior to departure.

We arrived in Paris the morning of August 25th, 2021 and spent the day exploring the beautiful city. We got to our hotel in the late afternoon and began to get ready for our "drink at the rooftop and dinner". We may have taken a bit longer to get ready than planned, as we got into our ride to the rooftop about 20 minutes after our reservation time....

When we finally got to the rooftop, the hostess knew about the secret proposal plan, and played it off perfectly! She told us that since we were so late to our reservation that they had given away our table, to which Lindsey loudly exclaimed "That's ok, we can just go somewhere else!". Everyone at the hostess booth besides Lindsey knew that that wasn't an option, so the hostess suggests that they have an overlook area towards the back where we could take some pictures and they could bring us a drink there. She then led us through the restaurant and up a set of stairs - Lindsey still had no idea at this point. As we walked up the stairs we were met with a stunning view of Paris and clicks of the shutter from the photographer - after months of planning, scheming, and adjusting everything had fallen into place absolutely perfectly.

I got down on one knee, and based on the fact that you got through that entire tale on our wedding website, I am sure you know how the story ended!