A Proposal Story

Colt proposed on Dec. 23, 2009, in the Honeymoon Suite of the Rogue Regency Inn and Suites.

Mandy was very surprised.

The story:

Mandy and Colt took a trip to visit Colt’s family over the 2009 Christmas holiday. They left Austin on Dec. 22. The first leg of the flight was fantastic—United Airlines had upgraded the two to First Class without them noticing—but the second was terrible. On the flight from San Fransisco to Seattle, Colt didn’t have a confirmed seat. And as the long layover grew to ta close, it was very much looking like Colt wasn’t going to be on the flight. Unbeknownst to Mandy, he told a customer service rep that he was planning on proposing, and that’s why he needed to be on the plane. She made it happen.

The morning of the 23rd, Bryan (Colt’s brother-in-law) took Colt on an errand to pick up some furniture left at the house he and Colt’s sister, Cheyloe, had just moved from. Cheyloe and Mandy stayed at the house, to hang with Eden, Colt’s niece. Mandy was working on finishing up some Christmas presents, because she is a total procrastinator.

Bryan and Colt got back to the house and then needed to go out again to pick up cupcakes for Eden’s 1st birthday party, which was happening the next day. Mandy needed to go to the store to get some more yarn to finish the last-minute presents completely, so she ans Cheyloe went to Michael’s while the boys went on their errand. While they did go pick up the cupcakes, they also went to the hotel and reserved a room for the night. Bryan had the idea that if they told the front desk clerks that Colt was planning on proposing, and bribed them with a cupcake, they might upgrade the room from free. And he was right!

Everyone got back to the house from errands at around the same time. Colt announced to Mandy that he’d been “guilted” into visiting some family members in a hotel nearby. She was totally fine with it. After having dinner, Mandy and Colt headed to the hotel at around 7-7:30.

On the way there, Colt tells Mandy that his grandma and aunt are staying in the Honeymoon Suite. Her initial thought was, “That’s weird.” But she figured the hotel was just full, and that room was the only one available. She did question Colt as to why his family was staying in a hotel, rather than his mom’s house (where she thought they were staying), but just responded with, “I’m not sure. Maybe they flew in?”

Mandy was still totally oblivious to what was going on.

When they reached the hotel, the two walked to the room. Colt had a keycard, which he’d “gotten from his mom in case his family wasn’t there”, so a note could be left. He knocked, softly, then went for the keycard. Mandy wasn’t ready to go into someone else’s hotel room, so she gently berated him: “Uh, knock louder! We can’t just go barging in there.” So he knocked again, and called out, before finally using the keycard.

No one was inside, yet Mandy was still unawares. She could see into the bedroom from the sitting area, and saw that there were roses lying on the end of the bed. Again, she thought, “weird.” In her mind,  the hotel had put those out for the “honeymoon couple,” and it was quite strange for Colt’s aunt and grandma to be getting them.

She walked a little farther into the room and noticed there was also a 23 written in rose petals on the bed.

It finally began to dawn on her that this wasn’t Colt’s family’s room when Colt pulled a little white box out of his pocket and got down on one knee. Mandy backed up, her hands in the air, yelling, “What are you doing?” in a high-pitched voice.

“Mandy Anne Murray, will you marry me?” Colt asked, and Mandy started to cry. He got up, and they hugged. Mandy said, “Of course!”, and was so excited she snatched the ring from the box herself.

There was a lot of hugging and a few happy tears on both sides.