More than 25-years ago we met as toddlers when Lisa (Chas' mom) visited Michele (Rachel's mom) in Michigan with Chas and his younger brother Matthew. The ladies had been fast friends during their LA days over 30-years ago. The play-date included swinging, riding tricycles, and a picture where Rachel mysteriously has a water balloon aimed at Chas even though no one else had any. Fast forward to 2016 and Lisa and Michele were having another reunion, this time in Chicago. Both invited us to join them at LuxBar and we met again as adults. Several days, and decoy texts from Lisa later, Chas asked Rachel on their first date.

Throughout our entire relationship, I have called Chas "The Flower Guy". He, without fail, brought flowers to my Chicago apartment weekly or sent flower deliveries for special occasions. Once I moved to Boston, he immediately located a neighborhood florist and the deliveries kept on coming... ...and with that in mind, as I was brainstorming proposal ideas the Lincoln Park Conservatory jumped to the top of the list. I did my research and completed a short checklist: buy a ring, plan a night she'll remember for the rest of her life and ask her dad for permission. The ring only took five trips and four months to my new friend Jim the jeweler and the perfect ring. I enlisted help to rent out and set up the Conservatory and as I was sitting at dinner with Mr. Kirsch getting ready to ask him the big question, I couldn't help but think "holy cow, I'm about to propose in three days. He better say yes!" All-in-all a pretty easy process. The night of the proposal didn't start out 100% according to plan (I was late for dinner and Rachel asked why I was acting so weird...) but the rest of the night could not have gone better. After dinner, I asked Rachel to go for a walk which ended at the Conservatory. Even though all the lights were out I walked up to the door, knocked and asked the security guard if we could look around, to Rachel's shock he replied: "Sure, come on in". At this point, I walked Rachel down a path through the Conservatory lined with candles and flower petals and stopped to give her notes I had written (wasn't sure I'd be able to get all the right words out in the moment!). At the end of the path was an arrangement of peonies where I got down on one knee, told her I loved her and asked her to marry me (short and sweet!). She said yes and after soaking in the moment at the Conservatory we went back to LuxBar, where it all began for a champagne toast to cap off the perfect evening!