Peter's Peter Pan Proposal
Try saying that 5 times fast!
We’ve each had a lot of people asking for the details already of how the proposal was done, so after talking about it together, Katie and I agreed that a post could be created that we could forward to curious folks that wanted more than the nutshell story. So here it goes!
My girlfriend, Katie, had posted something way back along the lines of “If it’s not a Disney proposal, the answer is no.” While I knew this was just a cute post and was not directed at me in any way shape or form, I saw it as a fun challenge.
One of Katie’s favorite children’s books is the story of Peter Pan, so I decided that I’d incorporate the book into the proposal. At first I thought about buying the book and carving out a nook for the ring, but as I thought more about it, I decided that I’d seen that done by too many folks (Not to mention it hurts/destroys the book as well…), and that that I should do something a little different to make it especially unique.
I decided to MAKE her a copy of the book from scratch. It was important to me that I create the nook for the ring without taking away from the text of the story- I wanted her to be able to sit down and read the book in full.
I’ve never done anything to this extent- I love woodworking, but this was truly a novice in this endeavor. It took me about 5 months. I taught myself the basics of bookbinding through various YouTube videos, and managed to find the text of the story online and was able to print it all out with custom fonts, page numbers, illustrations, and drop-caps.
With the text printed out, I was able to start sewing the groups of pages (or signatures) together and create the text block. Then came gluing the bound spine to add strength, and measuring dimensions for the cover.
I cut wood sections for the front, back, and spine of the book, and measured out the naugahyde (or faux leather) to serve as the cover. After gluing these pieces together, I was just about ready to begin the details of the cover. Up to this point through the construction of the book, I still hadn’t decided what I wanted to cover to be. I spent a good deal of time just looking up pictures of Peter Pan and Wendy flying, and wanted to incorporate their departure to Neverland together as a metaphor of our the engagement being the lift-off towards the rest of our lives together- our Neverland.
I finally found four different images that I was able to manipulate together- one of Peter flying, another of Wendy flying, one of Big Ben, and a final image of two stars that could be the “second star to the right”. I was able to combine these, and print the final design out to be burned into a circle of wood, that would later be glued onto the center of the front cover. The wood burning didn’t take long- that was the one bit of the project that I had LOTS of prior experience in, and I was quite pleased with the final product.
By this time I had received a call from the local jeweler. The ring that I had custom designed (I was able to select the diamond, setting, and band) was complete and ready for pickup. I was ecstatic- now I could measure out how large of a hole I needed to cut in the text to accommodate the ring.
I had saved about an inch of space from the bottom of the page that would be the location of the hole without damaging the text. Upon measuring out the height of the ring, however, I realized that the story of Peter Pan was a little to short to successfully hide the ring in a standing position. Not having the space to lay it horizontally, and not wanting to give up the location of the hole’s origin, I decided that I simply needed to add another hundred pages to the back to extend the hole sufficiently.
The hole’s origin HAD to be in the third chapter of the book, where Peter and Wendy first meet. The flap that I would lift would be at the bottom of the page where Peter says that he shall give Wendy a kiss, and the “kiss” I would give would not be an acorn, as Peter Pan did, but rather the ring. The fact that this was three chapters in was especially convenient as well- I knew that Katie had heard of rings being hidden in carved-out books, and upon seeing that this was truly the whole book would not think of this gift being the same case, thus surprising her further.
With enough pages added to the back and the combined text blocks amazingly still fitting into my original hardcover binding, I set about trying to fill the extra pages with something special. I didn’t want to leave those pages blank, and I wanted them to be icing on the cake. So when I asked for Katie’s parents blessing, I also asked for their help with collecting little notes and pictures from ALL of her family and extended family to include in the book. Thanks to their help, and one of Katie’s awesome aunts, I got over 25 notes and pictures from her family. I did the same with my family, and was soon able to fill the back pages of the book.
Now that I had everything complete, I was ready to propose. Katie and I had our two year anniversary coming up, and I knew that since we were going to exchange gifts that this was the perfect opportunity. We dressed up, made STEAK for dinner with some pasta and salad, had a bottle of wine, and candles- it was quite nice having a quiet, private, and intimate environment to work with.
After dinner, Katie let me open my present- she had told me I was getting some nice slippers in the mail, but they hadn’t arrived yet. She had made me a mug in its stead, with my Fraternity letters (ΣΦΕ) baked onto it. It was pretty darn cool to have that, and despite her comments and worries about me having outdone her (because she knew that I’d been working on something these last 5 months) I tried to show her how happy just being with her was making me, and that I loved her gifts. What she didn’t know what that her greatest gift to me of the night was yet to come- her “Yes!” to my big question.
As Katie opened the box of microwavable chimichangas (The only box I could find in my possession that wouldn’t be too large/small for the book) she saw the book I had made. Not allowing her to flip through its pages, I asked her to sit on the couch with me and read some of it together. About 20 seconds into the first page, Katie said “I want to read this with you, and Peter Pan isn’t a terribly long story, but we’re gonna be up REALLY late if you want to read it all tonight.” Patience is not one of her strongest attributes.
To her comment, I quickly tried to save some ground without giving away the surprise, and said “I don’t think we need to read the entire story tonight, but will you read my favorite chapter with me?” Which she cautiously agreed to, unsure of why I wanted to do so.
I opened the book to the third chapter, where Peter meets Wendy, and we took turns reading pages to each other. I took over when Wendy gives Peter a “kiss” of a thimble, and with my thumb covering the flap at the bottom of the following page, I read to her Peter’s line: “…shall I give you a kiss?”
As I read this line, I slowly lifted the flap in the page, and drew the ring, concealing it in my hand. I repeated the line looking into her eyes, and got down on one knee, holding up the ring.
After a minute of surprised outbursts from Katie, I was able to finally ask her my question. I’d practiced it so many times to myself, and had worried that I would be so nervous that I’d stutter or misspeak- but I was calm, and my voice was steady as I looked into her eyes and said:
"Katie, I love you, and you are such a child at heart, and I love your joy. I don’t ever want you to lose that and grow up, but I would love it if you would give me the honor of growing old with you. Will you marry me?"
She gave me the gift she didn’t start the day planning on giving, her “Yes!”, her hand-in-future-marriage, and the beginning of the rest of our lives together.
