Colin's idea was to propose at Riverside Park, which is on the west side of Manhattan off the 125th 1 train station, in a small tunnel that opens out toward the river. As I was later told, Colin chose the spot because that's where they had their first date over three years ago. On that night, they had walked through the tunnel during a warmer season, and, amidst playing with echoes off the walls, Colin had decided he would one day propose there (talk about prophesy!).

I suppose in most proposals, if not all, something is bound to not go according to plan. About two or three weeks earlier, when a few of us had scouted out the place to brainstorm ideas, we had enjoyed a nice, calm day. A bit chilly, but with the sun out the weather conditions were quite favorable and at that point we had expected it to only get better by the time of Colin's grand plan. We're talking mid-March weather after all. But of course, in life there are forces beyond our control. For us, that was the finger-numbing, face-hurting, unusually cold weather on the actual day of the momentous event. Adding to the chaos was the fact that the location and angle of the tunnel caused the wind to channel through it, resulting in a frosty, biting windchill.

But when you're on a mission as big as this, you don't let weather derail it. Colin had organized a group of close friends and family (shout out to: Tracy, Krista, Mark, Joel, Ben, Karen, Hanley) to help him out on the big day and we were determined to make it go as smooth as possible for them. The crew powered through, improvised, and made it work (Colin and Belinda later expressed their deep gratitude to us for risking frostbite to make it all happen - thankfully, no fingers or toes were lost in the making of this proposal).

As far as engagement spots go, I have to say it was a great choice. The combination of ambience, acoustics, and special meaning was perfect (well done bro). We arrived about an hour ahead and started decorating the space with childhood pictures of Colin & Belinda, copper lights, mason jars, candles, and flowers. We set up a bluetooth speaker (to play a song list Colin had put together for every step of the proposal), turned on the lights, and placed the ring inside a picnic basket. Romantic level 100. We then scouted the area for hiding spots and waited for the signal.

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