Here is JD's side of the proposal story:
THE PROVERB-IAL PROPOSAL
August 13th - The Start of Something Beautiful
I’ve entertained the thought of proposing to Whitney at her sorority candlelight ever since my dinner date with Mama E on August one-three (13) spent at the OG (Olive Garden). The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea and started gaining more information from Whitney about her Zeta friends and what the candlelight ceremony is all about. She had little-to-no knowledge of how interested I was in proposing to her at a candlelight.
With each passing ceremony (there were 2 this semester prior to when I asked), she told me more and more of what she wanted hers to look like. Then one day she enlightened me of her friend Felicity in whom she would confide the secret of her special ceremony. Little did Felicity know how big of a role she would really play!
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September 23rd - The Plans are Set in Motion
Although my plans and prayers were set in motion on August 13, the situation grew in its intensity on September 23. I messaged around 25 of my closest friends via FB (Facebook) alerting them to the vision that I had of how that night would go down.
The FB message went a little something like this:
Men and Women of God...
As many of you know, God has blessed me beyond belief with an incredible Proverbs 31 woman...and it is time as Beyonce would say..."to put a ring it"
So here's whats happenin...
I plan to ask her at one of her Sorority Candlelight services (pretty big deal, if someone in the sorority gets engaged, the rest of the sorority finds out about it at this service, so if so facto, nobody will know except the president and her friend Felicity (of whom I am in negotiations with and setting all this up, you can refer to her as the "insider" if you will))
Ideally next Wednesday, September 30th
This is what I envision...
They will all be in a big circle. They pass around this bouquet and then the girl who is engaged blows out her candle when the bouquet gets to her. When it comes time (me and Felicity are working on the timing right now and amongst other details) Felicity will signal...(They (Whit and Felicity) will be across from the door) and I walk in and she sees me coming, open door, enter circle, do the stand, stare and smile (for the pause effect of "yeah, this is about to go down" :P), then walk towards her, speech, knee (or vice versa), question....ennngaged :)
SOOO yeah I'm pretty stinkin stoked!
But I wanted to let yall know and for yall to be prayin about it. About getting everything set up with Felicity, that nobody squashes it, what I'm gonna wear, that night specifically..just yeah...a plethora of things to pray for :)
Thank you guys and I am so glad you can be a part of this time in my life! Love yall! :)
J.D. Todd
Phil 2:5
G3!
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September 24th - The Insider
The next day I messaged Felicity {AKA – the Insider}:
Hey Felicity,
This is J.D. Todd aka Whitney's boyfriend aka the hopeful husband:)
Whitney really seems to confide in you about the candlelight service and you seem to be the only one she is going to tell...
Now I don't know if this is possible but...
I was wanting to make her candlelight service special in the fact that I want to propose to her at it...
And was wondering if you could help me out with it? The way I envisioned it would be: Everyone stands in the circle, they pass around the candle, nobody blows it out, then there will be some confusion, then boom I walk through the door, grab the candle, hand it to you (you will be standing next to Whit), boom I hit the knee in front of Whitney, say my spiel, she says yes, you hand her the candle, she blows it out...and happy night :)
And oh yeah, I'm wanting to do it either next Wednesday (Sept 30th) or the next Oct 7th...Ideally, next Wed...the only reason I wouldn't is someone else got proposed to and I don't want to show them up, or make them feel any less special :p you know...
So yeah, I really hope this is feasible, and you could maybe give me some other ideas about the service that may be more impactful (not a word) or what not. But yeah, if any of this is confusing, or if it would be easier to call me and explain the sitch, please by all means :)
Hope to hear from you soon. And hope you are having a wonderful week!
J.D. Todd
Phil 2:5
G3!
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September 25th – Receiving of the Ring
And that weekend I would receive the ring from Mama E. We arrived at the Adams’ house late Thursday night and Mama E begged Whitney to leave the room so her and I could converse (Whitney had no clue it would be about the ring). We chatted some and she gave me the ring before we left for the week. (It is a family ring.)
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September 28th – Felicity, Flowers, and Formal Wear
That Monday I met with Felicity (for the first time) to look for the candlelight bouquet and for what I was going to wear on that special night. We ordered the turquoise vest and tie for pick up on Wednesday. With our quick success, we were sure that we would find the ideal candlelight bouquet. After three shops of failure, we were bouquet-less and decided all the shops were about to close for the day. So we decided to meet the next day…
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September 29th – A Beautiful Bouquet and Final Preparations
Felicity and I met at Auburn Flowers, only to get the best service and find the most perfect bouquet :) We discussed what exactly would happen, time of arrival, my cue, other insiders, etc and parted ways until approximately 6:30 pm.
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September 30th aka Game Time
After lunch and class, I picked up my attire, went to Whit’s place, left at 3:30, showered, and wrote down exactly what I wanted to say, practiced it in front of the mirror, and prayed :) I asked one of my friends (Jeremy) to film the event. I had a camera on the inside and Jeremy would follow me in. So he did all the behind the scenes stuff :). I was told by Felicity to arrive at the sorority room at 6:00 pm. We met with Mama E and her sister Aunt Sonya and arrived at 5:50 (plenty of time). I did not know this, but it was a mandatory night for all the sisters, so yeah, approximately 200 girls were in the house/room. So, there we are, standing and waiting for the singing (that was the cue), while dodging anybody that walked through the hallways (I didn’t want to be seen), it was quite an adventure really :) So finally the singing starts, I wait, and wait, dance a little to pass the time, and wait, heart pounding, nervous smiling, and boom, the door opens…and it was lights, camera action as I walked through the door. The room filled with gasps, omg’s, smiles, and screams as I entered the circle. We locked eyes as I crossed into the circle, keeping my eyes on the prize, I stood in the middle for my dramatic pause effect and little did I expect, she started walking my way and she met me in the middle (sweet analogies to be had with that one). We hugged – screams – parted -- more screams --hugged some more, parted, then a hush fell over the crowd, waiting as if I had something to say. It was now quiet. Nervously, yet confidently I said:
Whitney Taylor Adams
You are the Proverbs 31 woman that I have prayed for and desired
You have inspired and encouraged everyone around you, especially me
You have rocked my world and stolen my heart
I want to spend the next 50 years and the next 50 after that
Dancing, singing, cooking, traveling, laughing and loving with you
With that being said…
Whitney Taylor Adams…
Will you marry me?
Then boom! I hit the knee and the rest is history, well not actually, we have the rest of our lives to live freely for the G-O-D. We kissed and told the story to the rest of her sorority sisters. We then texted our friends with the line “It’s official” and went to eat at Milano’s (an Italian eatery, it’s her fave). We then went to her place, took pics on her PhotoBooth to commemorate the night.
