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About our Engagement
Mike decided to surprise Kristen by taking
her to his hometown of Biella, Italy to propose. The span of events occurred
between September 14th through September 17th. To make this happen, he
coordinated this effort through several key groups – her managers, her
parents and his parents.
First, since Mike needed Kristen out of work on September 16 and 17th for
the trip, he contacted two of her managers. One of her managers gave her
two vacation days to take at her discretion, but she had to use them by the
end of September. Since Kristen was not agreeing with Mike on what two days
to take off, Mike got her managers to clear her schedule for these two days
with fictitious meetings.
Then Mike asked Kristen’s parents for her hand in marriage on September 12th
and celebrated with them (via champagne, fruit, and cheese). During this
time, Kristen thought Mike was out having dinner and drinks with a friend in
the east bay. The following night (September 13th), Kristen and Mike had
dinner with her parents celebrating her mom’s birthday. Since Mike had not
told Kristen that she would be getting on a plane the following morning, he
had to make up a reason why she was going. On this day (i.e., 9/13), Kristen
was receiving congratulatory messages for her 3rd year with her company.
Kristen told Mike… Mike got an idea.
After Kristen had told Mike of the calls, he created a card with the
company’s logo and the card was congratulating Kristen’s 3rd year
anniversary. Within the card, there was a separate piece of paper detailing
a ‘gift’ from the company for this anniversary – i.e., a free trip to an
‘unknown’ destination. All she knew was that there could be rain, she should
bring some good walking shoes, and a passport was needed. Kristen was in
disbelief on receiving a gift such as this, but she had nothing else to go
on to not believe the trip.
On the way home from dinner, Kristen pestered Mike on disclosing the
location of the trip. He would not tell. She ended up searching the CNN
weather website and looked at flight schedules on United and American to
figure out this destination. She almost called the airlines to figure out
her itinerary but decided not to call. From this research, Kristen thought
that they were going to Banff, Canada for the vacation. It was not until the
next morning when Mike and Kristen arrived at the American check-in desk
when Kristen realized that they were not going to Canada. The agent asked
‘how many bags are you going to check-in for Milan?’ and Kristen knew
something was up. She wasn’t sure if her company was still involved with
this, but as the day and flights went on – she knew this wasn’t a business
trip.
Now on the other side of the world, Mike was coordinating with his parents
on the details of his and Kristen’s arrival into Biella. They secured a
hotel room, dinner reservations, and packed one of their cars with a picnic
lunch and a beautiful red rose. They dropped the car off at the hotel
waiting for Mike and Kristen’s arrival. Mike and Kristen got into town that
Sunday afternoon. After checking in and cleaning up,
they decided to go on a drive up to the mountains. It
was a beautiful sunny and warm day, so many people were out enjoying the
weather. So Mike searched for a quiet location to park. Once they parked, he
proposed.
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