The Pre-Proposal Setup

So, the proposal began before Inbar had any clue.. She’s a hard girl to surprise, and is very investigative. Planning this was a challenge, and I knew I had to throw her off my traces somehow.

No better way to setup the proposal than a nice relaxing vacation in PV:

What an amazing trip right? Totally! But I knew she’d expect me to propose there.  Frankly, I don’t think great things happen when your expectations are met, but rather exceeded.

The Limo Ride

So you might be thinking.. “so what did you do then?”.. Well, I waited! We got back on the plane, landed at LAX, passed through immigration and Inbar got a call from her parents. By this point, Inbar was under the impression that her parents were coming to pick us up from the airport. Little did she know, I had already arranged to have a limo to pick us up for the 1st surprise. Without wanting to blow my cover, I told her parents to take the credit for the limo and break the news to her. By this point her mood was elevated a bit, and probably starting to already cope with the idea that the proposal really wasn’t happening and we were going home.

Now that the expectations have been set… we get in the car. To make sure no suspicions about where we were going, I had arranged to have the driver explain that he had to make a quick stop and that her parents already knew that he had to make a quick stop along the way home. Inbar was a little flustered by this, because we had just landed and wanted to get home.. but with a slight glance, I did my best to give my most resentful nod but approval to go forward and Inbar signaled to the driver that it would be okay. Things are coming together! We’re now driving in the car, the driver has purposefully taken side streets toward Greystone Mansion to throw her off from where we were at and told her “the 405 is slammed” (this is pretty typical, so not unusual at all). Still at this point, Inbar thinks we are going home!

The Back Story

Have you ever heard of Murphy’s Law?

It states that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong and as a friend of mine once added “and at the worst possible time.” Things didn’t come together smoothly at first, it took a lot of careful planning and quick wits.

On the day before we left Puerto Vallarta, I had gotten a text message that driver did not receive my e-mail instructions. As I sat sitting on a hammock admiring the view about to send the directions, I had lost my balance almost falling out of the hammock and my cell phone goes flying (almost off the balcony) and my shiny gold Galaxy S6 Edge slams into the hard marble floors. It’s laying face down… I pause for a moment, realizing what had just happened. Working for a cell phone accessory company for nearly 2 years, you’d expect me to have a case on my phone. But, nope.. I guess not me. Though I almost always do! I felt like a dummy. Knowing there was nothing I could do about it now, with a gasp, I go over to check my phone and the screen. The phone is destroyed, and the screen is flickering. This was no normal crack, the whole screen was completely shattered. With the phone’s last seconds I scrambled to relay the drivers instructions to Inbar’s dad via text message to send to the driver. I was never able to see if the text went through, as the screen went completely black after I hit send.

After we landed at the airport I jumped at my first chance to talk to the driver alone. When we were loading our bags into the car Inbar got in the car, and I quickly checked that the driver had the instructions. He confirmed he did, I was relieved.

My troubles were not over though, now here comes “the worst possible time” part my friend joked about earlier. Inbar gets a call on her cell phone from Roy, my heart sinks for a moment because he said he would only call if something didn’t go as planned. I quickly regain my composure not give anything away, Inbar looks to me and says it’s for you. She hands me the phone, and Roy starts explaining to me that he is with Paige, Kyle, and Katrina and the park is closed, and that there wasn’t a way in.

Not really knowing how to reply since Inbar is sitting right next to me. I did my best to reply to his questions with simple “yes” or “no”. I did not want to compromise the location or day because it meant something to us, so I knew we had to find a way to make it work. I wasn’t going to take “no” as an answer, and gave the final call to find a place even if it’s at the gates.

Now Minutes Away From Greystone

We’re now about 10-15 minutes away from the Greystone, and I pull out the laptop for the 2nd surprise. I told her that before the trip I made something special that I wanted to surprise her with.. Inbar had totally set herself up for this though. For weeks leading up to our trip, she asked me every day if I would have any “surprises” for her.. LOL! So finally, I decided to tell her about a week before that I would have a surprise for her.. but she wouldn’t know until after we left for Puerto Vallarta.

As I took out the laptop, I explained to her that I made her a video before the trip and it was the surprise that I had promised to give her before the trip. The following video is the same video I played for Inbar in the car on the laptop as we pulled up to the gates at Greystone. But still at this point, she did not know what was going on, but she watched the whole video.

The Proposal

Now time for the big surprise! The video ends, and she looks up at me in a look of joy, but a slight confusion on what was actually happening. I told her that for the last surprise she would have to get out of the car.

I lead her to the front gates of Greystone Mansion, where my brother Roy and my sister Paige and her husband Kyle had previously helped to set-up a red gumball machine that was filled with plastic rings. Greystone Mansion was the place where Inbar and I went on our first official date as a couple. We had not been back since, so I wanted to take us back to where things started.

What’s With The Red Gumball Machine?

When Inbar and I first started dating several years ago, Inbar once asked me what style of ring I would buy her one day.. jokingly, I told her I would go to Toys-R-Us and put a quarter in the gumball machine and would let her know. Ever since, it had been an inside joke between us two. However, little did Inbar know how literal I can be about things at times and that I would keep my promise from years prior.

I walk over to the gumball machine, and reached into my pocket and exclaimed to her “I don’t have any quarters, but I’ve got some pesos.. let’s try anyways!”. I put the $10 pesos coin in the slot, and of course it doesn’t turn. However I studied at it with a puzzled look, and then started leaning in to inspect it. Then slowly got down on one knee to look into gumball receiver, where my siblings had already arranged the ring I got her in a plastic gumball machine. Grabbing the plastic ball, having the look like “Oh Crap, it worked!”, but then and there on one knee asked her the words that have changed our lives forever.. “Will You Marry Me?” She said “Yes!”

No time wasted for the following surprises ~ immediately onto the next surprise! Katrina Jayne (https://www.katrinajayne.com/) jumped out of what seemed like the bushes dressed like a professional paparazzi to capture the moment as it was happening. Shortly after Roy, Paige & Kyle came running across the street to greet us. The moment was filled with so much love, joy, and happiness. I will always remember it as one of the best days in my life!

Another Nod to Our Past

Now for the last surprise, I had pre-arranged to meet with our family and some close friends at the Chipotle on Topanga Canyon, which is also the first place Inbar and I went for dinner on first date. I’ve always believed that great things can often have humble beginnings, and I was happy we got to re-live one of our first days together as couple with other people who we love and mean the world to us.

I feel very grateful for everyone who has given us so much support and love on our journey, in this proposal, and now in our engagement! We’re excited to share with you more of our journey, thank you for reading!

Brandon, aka The Groom