Our Story
As many of you know, our journey dates back to over a decade ago. We went to different middle schools and were complete strangers when we entered high school. Thanks to our common group of friends, we got introduced to each other in Grade 9. It was not “love at first sight” though ( we actually despised each other for a short while!). But oddly enough,the two of us became friends overtime. We saw at school everyday and spent hours talking on MSN every night. We then casually agreed to try out this “dating” thing after a year of friendship. To be honest, we only had some “feelings” for each other and did not know much about love; sacrifice, commitment, and marriage were words that did not cross our minds at the time. Looking back, it was definitely God’s grace and mercy which had glued us together this whole time. He has made us closer and shaped us to become each other’s best friends and soul mates. Through the ups and downs and the experiences we have shared in life thus far (ie. maintaining a long distance relationship, surviving and recovering from accidents/injuries, working and saving up for our future), we have learned to sacrifice and to love and care for each other. We are now ready to make this lifelong commitment and cannot wait to celebrate our big day with you!!
The Proposal
Months of planning and adding a couple more grey hairs are how I would describe the proposal. But was it worth it? Oh yes it was! I am so proud and happy to call Sammy my fianceé and soon to be wife, and can’t wait to go through the journey of life together with her.
Being the OCD type, I spent six months planning the proposal. I went through hundreds of hours researching about diamonds, settings for the ring, what materials to use and so forth. But finding the diamond and making the ring was only the beginning of it. Sammy and I had been throwing the “p” word around and joking about it for a while. I would poke and prod to see what she envisioned her perfect proposal would be, but all I would get in response was: “you better figure it out yourself.. and surprise me!”. Not wanting to disappoint, I stepped up to the challenge and began to devise elaborate plans, imagining scenarios that one would only see in movies. I bounced my ideas off of my brother and Harrison once in a while. Their reactions were mostly encouraging, but with a skeptical look on their faces.
I have always thought that proposals would be easily forgotten since there are no pictures to retell the story. Hence, I wanted to have pictures of the 
proposal, but wondered how I would be able to document the day without her suspecting it. The word paparazzi eventually came to my mind; I would hire someone to literally stalk us and document the process. I ran this idea through Harrison who immediately rallied up three other good friends. The ultimate stalking team composed of Harrison, Collin, Anthony and Simon and I can’t thank these four guys enough (They literally crawled through mud, got attacked by ducks and yelled at by strangers for creeping on Sammy and I).
With a team of ninja’s in place, it was time to plan the attack. As a self-proclaimed deal hunter, I came across a Vancouver getaway package that was too hard to pass on. I suggested to Sammy that we should make a short staycation in Vancouver since we haven’t gone on a vacation for so long. She agreed and we set the date for the Easter long weekend just before her birthday to make it an early celebration as well.
The big day was approaching fast and it wasn’t until a week before the proposal did I figure out how I wanted to do it. While I was praying one day, it occured to me that Sammy is God’s blessing to me. With that in mind, I planned to find a quiet place in Stanley Park to pray with Sammy, thanking God for knitting us together and praying that He would continue to walk with us. After the prayer, I would then get down on my knee and propose to her. Well, the rest is history. She said YES!
P.S. A lot of people have asked if I asked Sammy’s parents for permission before proposing to her. Short answer is yes, I did. I had invited Sammy’s parents out for lunch a few months before the proposal. Over lunch, I told them I was planning on proposing to their daughter and would like to have their blessing.