Burrichter Family Musings: Engaged!

Hi Family,

As most of you know, I proposed to my girlfriend Cindy this weekend. Here's how it went down:

1) Talking to her dad - We went down to her hometown - McAllen, Texas - over MLK weekend. I called her dad a few days ahead of time to tell him that I wanted to talk to him about marrying his daughter. I had only met him once before so I was nervous. He said, "We can discuss that" which made me even more nervous. I stressed that I'd like to talk to him without Cindy finding out. He decided that he would also need to keep the secret from his wife in order to avoid spoiling everything. He told me that he would come up with a way to get time with me without anyone suspecting.

A few days later, he texted Cindy asking if I'd be willing to help him with a landscaping project through the Rotary Club on Sunday morning of the weekend we were in town. Cindy and her mom were both mortified that he would ask me to landscape. I played along, acting frustrated but telling Cindy, "I can't say no to your dad the first weekend I come to hang out with him."

That Sunday morning, we loaded up in his SUV to head out to do landscaping. Once we got on the road, he said, "The floor is yours." I went on to explain my love for Cindy and my desire to care for her as her husband. He had a number of questions, including: how do you know you love her after such a short time? Does she love you? Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Do you plan to move back to Kansas City? Have you talked about kids and will you raise them in the church? I successfully navigated those questions and he told me, "I can tell that my daughter loves you. Welcome to the family." What a relief it was to hear those words.

2) The Proposal - I decided I wanted to propose at Hotel St. Cecilia, a boutique hotel near South Congress in Austin. The hotel always had a mystique in my mind. I rented a suite and went to planning. You can see pictures of the suite on the hotel's website here. The suite has a private yard, fire pit, and porch. It also has lights strung above the yard, which add a nice touch at night. My plan was to propose by the fire at night. My friend Kortni made some floral arrangements to place around the fire, porch, and living room of the suite. We also added a few candles along the stairs leading to the porch.

I coordinated with my friend Travis to schedule a double date with his fiancé and Cindy and I the night of my proposal. The story was that Travis' fiancé, who lives in Dallas, wouldn't be in town until 7:30, so we would do a later dinner. Cindy and I planned to get drinks before the double date, and I "made reservations" at Hotel St. Cecilia for those drinks. Little did she know, you can only enjoy the hotel bar if you are a guest of the hotel.

We arrived at the hotel at 6pm. The suite came with two complimentary drinks. However, you had to turn in a card given to you by the hotel to get your drinks. I coordinated with the bar manager that afternoon and gave her my card so that I could enjoy the free drinks without having to turn in the card in front of Cindy. We agreed that I would come in and say, "My name is Joel Thomason and I'm here for my 6pm reservation." That would tip-off the staff, who all knew what was going down. When Cindy and I got to the bar a different person helped us. When I said, "My name is Joel Thomason and I'm here for my 6pm reservation" she almost blew the entire night. She got really excited and said, "Oh yes! Joel! We have your card right here for your two drinks!" I was devastated and was sure Cindy was onto everything. Thankfully Cindy thought it was just part of the reservation, and I came up with a story that the hotel was fancy and had a minimum charge of $30 and that was what the card was for. However, as we stood at the bar ordering our drinks, I was just sure the idiot woman would say something like, "Congratulations, by the way!" Thankfully we avoided disaster.

Then we headed outside to sit on the hotel grounds and enjoy our drinks. I asked Cindy if she would be cold and she said, "Oh it's ok. I'll just wear your jacket if I get cold." Well the ring was in my pocket! So I said as calmly as possible, "I'll just head back to the car to get your sweater." We enjoyed drinks and it was the longest 45 minutes of my life....

One thing you need to know is that I tried to throw Cindy off my scent by telling her that I was headed to Corpus Christi for work overnight the next week. I knew that she would hear that and immediately assume that I was lying and was planning to go talk to her dad. She had no idea that I had talked to him two weeks prior. So as we sat outside enjoying our drinks, Cindy started to talk about how she had suspicions about things that were happening with the proposal process. It was fun to play along all the while knowing that she had no clue that I had a ring in my pocket at that very moment.

After our drinks, we walked down to check out the pool area of the hotel. Then we decided to head out to South Congress to kill more time before our double date. I told her, "Let's go this back way. It's shorter." The "back way" led straight to the suite I had rented. After walking into the private yard, Cindy commented, "I don't think we can get out this way." By that time, the hotel staff had gotten a nice fire going and lit all the candles. Cindy just thought it was another place to have drinks and had no idea I had coordinated it all. I walked up onto the porch of the suite and told her, "Let's try this door. Maybe we can get out this way." When I pulled out a key and unlocked the door, she was very confused. It wasn't until I went into the living room of the suite and grabbed my bible and journal that she realized what was going on.

I led her back to the fire and told her how much I loved her and read her some prayers from last summer when I knew who she was but hadn't met her and was praying that God would give me a date with her. I also read her a Bible verse, Colossians 3:12-14, which is the verse I want as my theme for loving her throughout my lifetime. Then I got on one knee and proposed. There was a lot of crying from both of us, and she said yes! Actually, she just nodded her head and said "I love you so much" over and over again. But I took that as a yes.

I had coordinated with the hotel to order us a pizza and have it delivered at 7:30. So after I proposed we went into the suite and enjoyed pizza and wine for dinner. Cindy called her mom, who had been in the dark the whole time. She never found out I was going to propose, for fear that she might give it away. A little while later, some of our closest Austin friends, as well as some of Cindy's closest friends from college who had come into town for the proposal, joined us at the hotel. We had s'mores and sat around the fire. It was a special celebration.

I let Cindy, her roommate Kelsey, and her two out of town friends stay in the hotel that night. I figured they needed time to do whatever it is girls do after a proposal. I came back the next morning and kicked the girls out. The hotel served us complimentary breakfast in the suite. Then we spent all day prepping for an engagement party that night. The hotel would have required catering for a gathering of more than 16 people. So I keep the Friday evening gathering to 16 and then planned a party for Saturday night that was open to all. Cindy got to see some more out of town friends Saturday night as well.

All in all it was a great weekend. I'm so excited to marry Cindy and excited for you to get to know her better and her to get to know you better. I'm sure I probably left something out of the story. There are also probably a few typos in the story I just typed, but you can deal with it. I've included a few pictures below to give you an idea of what everything looked like.

The Firepit Where I Proposed