The Proposal

The week prior to the day Matthew proposed, he randomly stated that they should go and have Andrea's ring finger sized by a jeweler. Immediately after the sizing, the jeweler asked if Matthew was interested in looking at rings. Matthew's response was something along the lines of "Maybe someday". After years of waiting for a ring to no avail, Andrea had learned not to get her hopes up "in the ring department" and so Matthew's response to the jeweler didn't bother her. But, unbeknownst to Andrea, Matthew had already purchased a diamond and only needed her ring size in order to complete the band.

Once Andrea and Matthew got home from the jewelry store, Matthew made the comment that it would be nice to take Andrea's mom out to dinner. "After all, it has been a while since we have taken her out to eat", he said. Andrea did not connect the dots between Matthew's comment/suggestion and the ring sizing because she was so focused on how sweet it was of him to suggest they eat dinner somewhere with her mother. Andrea passed along the message to her mother and they all agreed to dinner at Tommy Bahamas.

A week later, Andrea told her coworkers about Matthew taking her to get her ring finger sized and that they would be taking her mother out to dinner the next day. The coworkers were excited and all of them seemed to think that something was going to happen. They thought it most likely that Matthew was going to ask Andrea's mother for permission to propose. One of the coworkers suggested that Andrea should leave the table during dinner for a few minutes to give her mom and Matthew some privacy.

The next day, on April 5, 2019, Matthew and Andrea picked up Emily (Andrea's mom), in the evening, and headed off to the restaurant. They arrived early and had time to waste so Matthew suggested they walk around Market Street for a little while. As they were walking, Matthew pointed out an area that had pretty landscaping and asked if Andrea would take a picture with him. Andrea was still oblivous to what was about to come. Although, she should’ve known something was up because Matthew never initiates taking pictures!

As they were posing Andrea found it weird that Matthew was not wrapping his arms around her like he normally does during pictures. Andrea looked over to see what was going on and noticed that his index and middle finger were both "stuck" in the small pocket of his jeans. Matthew was trying to dig the ring out of his pocket but Andrea was still not aware of anything special going on so she grabbed his hand and tried to help him pull his fingers out of his pocket. As Andrea helped pull his hand, Matthew pulled out the ring, got down on one knee, and asked the question that she had been waiting to hear for a very long time. "Andrea Malaluan, will you marry me?" he asked. Andrea couldn't believe it! In her most serious voice, she responded with “Is this a joke?!” After quickly confirming it with her mom that it was, in fact, real, Andrea excitedly squealed “Yes!”.

Matthew had already asked for permission and told Emily the specifics of his proposal plan in the days leading up to their dinner date. His plan was simple and went off without a hitch, unless, of course, you count taking a full minute to get the ring out of his pocket.

After the proposal they went on to Tommy Bahamas and had a nice meal. Tommy Bahamas made their night even more special with free champagne and desert!