January 2014

Lost in translation

Amanda and Lucas met in the beginner-level Chinese class during the second semester of their freshman year at George Washington University in Washington DC. It was unusual for their paths to cross. Even with years of Chinese in high school and a semester abroad in Beijing, Amanda’s Chinese still wasn’t very good but she wanted to continue learning despite being a statistics major. Lucas, who has spoken Mandarin at home his entire life, had no excuse, but he couldn't read any of the Chinese text on the placement exam. By chance or fate, these two poor students of Chinese ended up in the same class.

Though they only spoke one sentence to each other that first semester, luckily they both ended up in the same Chinese class again the following year. However, through writing this story, Amanda learned Lucas no longer has any recollection of meeting her that semester at all (he was too focused on his studies, he says).

2014 - 2023

Georgetown nights and pasta delights

For the first project of the year, the students were asked to split up into groups. Lucas (allegedly) asked Amanda to join his group, but after some discussion with the students nearby, Amanda "accidentally" ditched him to join an all-girls group. Wounded but undeterred, when the professor assigned one of those cheesy dialogue projects, Lucas seized the opportunity to ask Amanda to be his language partner. This time she said yes. But shortly thereafter, Amanda came down with the flu and was eating nothing but plain pasta with butter. Seeing his window while Amanda was sick and delirious, Lucas asked her if once she ever got tired of plain pasta she would want to have dinner with him. Although Amanda will never be tired of plain pasta, she happily agreed.

They had their first official date at Mai Thai a few blocks away from campus (sadly it has since closed down). After a few more Starbucks dates, movie nights, and a delivery of homemade pumpkin pie to the library, they made it official during one magical winter evening in Georgetown in December 2014. They had dinner at Filomena (more pasta!) and went ice skating with (plastic) penguins by the Georgetown waterfront. That restaurant and the Georgetown waterfront instantly became very special to them.

After nearly a decade later, Amanda and Lucas have gone on many adventures and made many wonderful memories together. They made two cross-country moves, adopted Luna (their beloved mini Aussiedoodle doggo), chained themselves to a mortgage for a home in DC, and, of course, had several hundred more pasta nights. But one of their biggest moments was yet to come with the proposal in April 2023.

April 2023

A not-so-Swedish surprise

Lucas had two objectives for the proposal: (1) surprise Amanda and (2) incorporate sentimental meaning. There was a clear choice for Objective 2: he wanted to pop the question at the Georgetown waterfront where they began their relationship. As for Objective 1, well, as our dearest readers may know, Amanda is not easily surprised. The Home Edit disciple and self-professed planning guru is quick to sniff out anything that is out of alignment. In order to pull off a surprise, Lucas was going to need to weave a web of deception with no loose ends--and he was going to need help.

The story was as follows: one of their friends who is a high-powered corporate attorney, Kyle Angelotti, won an extra set of tickets from his law firm to a black-tie charity dinner hosted at the swanky House of Sweden (aka the Embassy of Sweden) located on the edge of the Georgetown waterfront one Saturday evening in April. Kyle would offer the tickets to Amanda and Lucas. Lucas would pretend to waffle about the invitation to throw off the scent, but it didn't matter because Amanda excitedly RSVP'ed without him.

During the week leading up to the proposal, Lucas learned Amanda began inquiring with friends about the charity event and poking around the embassy's website. Thankfully, the cabal of friends reinforced the story at every turn. Sarah Graham concocted an excuse to pull Amanda with her to get a well-timed manicure. Margaret Mason, Rena Mazur, and Sarah advised Amanda on outfits.

With the pieces in place, Saturday finally came. Lucas observed Amanda for signs that she may have caught onto the plan. Just as they began getting ready to leave, she pulled up the contract to book their wedding venue on her computer. His heart dropped. Was this some veiled message saying she knew what was about to happen, he wondered. The deadline to reserve the venue is tomorrow and I want to lock it in early, she said, true to form.

So, hours before the proposal, Amanda and Lucas signed the contract with Park Winters. Now there is a financial penalty if she says no, he thought, not knowing whether to feel concerned or confident. They hopped in an Uber to Georgetown.

But there was one final hurdle: how to get Amanda to the precise location on the waterfront. They couldn't show up directly at the embassy because, well, it would be empty. Lucas decided to have Kyle and Margaret suggest they meet at a restaurant on the other end of the waterfront and walk over to the event together.

After poking her head into several rooms looking for non-existent lawyerly people, Amanda called Margaret to find out where they were, which Margaret smartly ignored. Instead, Kyle texted they had just closed out and to meet them by the fountain. Amanda and Lucas walked onto the promenade and once they arrived in front of where they first skated together all those years ago, Lucas delivered his monologue, got down on one knee, and proposed. The cabal of friends emerged from the shadows, pictures were taken, and Amanda and Lucas went on to celebrate the engagement with an evening of live music and--you guessed it--heaping plates of pasta at Filomena.

Special thanks to Sarah Graham, Kyle Angelotti, Margaret Mason, and Rena Mazur for helping pull this off.

Amanda was completely surprised :)