So, I had been planning the proposal for quite some time. Probably around 3-4mo. I got some of my wife's friends to ask her questions about their rings, what she liked about them and what she wanted in particular. I did the 4 "C's" research and got the ring just a couple days before we left for Macedonia on a mission trip with our church. The church planned a one night layover in Milan on the back end of the trip to Macedonia so I decided to make it a big, extravagant proposal. Tip #1: if you can leverage other plans to help make your proposal something spectacular, then do it. She had no clue I was going to propose because the purpose of the trip was to lead a college church camp in Eastern Europe, not wander the streets of Italy. Tip #2: if you take your ring to an Eastern European country that is relatively impoverished from their previous Soviet occupation, get your ring insured. I was scared to death that it would get confiscated by security at the airport either coming in or going out. Anyway, we got to Milan and jumped on the train to get into the heart of the city. We had another couple with us and had dinner together. That was also helpful in throwing my wife off the scent of the impending proposal. Tip #3: Contract with another couple about what your plans are and you'll be able to have photos of the event. So, we had dinner and then saw some of the sites of Milan. It was really late at night so most things were closed, but it was cool just to see the architecture. While I was planning all this out in my head back in America, I was going to navigate us to the Duomo Cathedral (big Gothic church in Milan) and propose at the doorsteps. I was able to do so only because my buddy at dinner got us there. Tip #4: if you plan to propose in a special place that you've never been to before, and you are by nature directionally impaired, if you can, go there beforehand. If you can't do that (as I couldn't) have someone with you who isn't directionally impaired. The other couple actually didn't know I was going to propose until my wife and my friend's wife left together to use the restroom while a dinner. I told my friend what I was going to do at that time and he and his wife were able to take pictures of the actual proposal once we got to the cathedral. It was a memory we'll cherish forever.
