Jenni and Lawayne Wedding Proposal.mov

December 25, 2009. I knew it would mean a lot to Jenni to propose in front of her family, so Christmas in Cleveland was perfect. I wanted the family involved yet keep everyone surprised, so here is what I came up with:

While Jenni was shopping on Christmas eve, I snuck a FedEx box on her parents' door step. It was addressed to her family and labeled from Harry & David. She brought it inside and we all huddled to open it as if there was a leg lamp inside like from the Christmas Story movie! It was a large square box with a bow and instructions to open it with the entire family present. What they really received was a fake H&D Family Fun Gift that consisted of 9 boxes which all fit inside each other.

After the kids opened their gifts later that night at her sister's house, Jenni's father announced the mysterious package. He read the instructions on how to open the Family Fun Gift which in the end will reveal the surprise sender, aka me.

Each member opened a card attached to their gift and found a H&D gift card with a funny message stating different dollar values. There was also a private massage instructing them to give the next gift to anyone but Lawayne & Jenni. The 6th gift was given to me and then I gave the 7th gift to Jenni.

I created all this to make her think it was completely random for her to get the last gift. Her card read that her gift had no dollar value but was worth more than a silly gift card. As instructed, she opened her next gift which told her it would last a lifetime and is the greatest gift of all... The last gift had a card with the word "LOVE!" on it and was placed on top of a ring box that looked like a mini gift bag. Although other family members caught on, she was completely unaware until she actually saw the ring.

I knew surprising her would be tough since we already picked out the ring. I threw her off by telling her to keep a week in February open for a secret destination. Also with New Years and a January trip planned to San Juan, she had no idea when to expect it. Mission accomplished, she was so surprised that when I got down on my knee and proposed, her sister had to remind her to say "Yes!!"

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• gift nesting
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