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"  Today is National Proposal Day, invented by a man named John Michael O&amp;#039;Loughlin. As is the case with any national holiday that forces grand gestures of love and commitment, we&amp;#039;re not fully on board. However, the timing of it, the Vernal Equinox, at which point day and night are equal lengths, is a lovely metaphor for a lifelong union. In honor of going off the grid and popping the question whenever the mood strikes, we asked fashion insiders for the tale of the day they said yes. Joanna Hillman, BAZAAR Style Director  &amp;quot;He proposed at my parents&amp;#039; house in Toronto in the summertime. In hindsight, I realize we were home for the weekend so that he could propose in front of my parents, because he knows how close I am with my family. I was really excited because I had a steak and baked potato on my plate and by the time I got to it, it was cold. He asked when I brought the dishes out. I don&amp;#039;t even remember exactly what he said, as soon as I saw the jewelry box I went into a fog.&amp;quot; Jennifer Fisher, Jewelry Designer  &amp;quot;We were having a HUGE Halloween costume party and I went out to get my makeup done\u2026when I can back he had a huge sheet over our upstairs loft entrance to our bedroom. I yelled, &amp;quot;Take that thing down, I don&amp;#039;t care if people go upstairs!&amp;quot; He said, &amp;quot;Come up here!&amp;quot; When I pulled back the sheet, there were huge arrangements of single color flowers everywhere (Imagine a Pantone rainbow of singular arrangements). It was so beautiful. He was wearing a white T-shirt on which he had written MARRY ME in red Sharpie. I was so shocked. It was one of those amazing moments in life when you are truly genuinely surprised and overjoyed at the same time. Then we went on to have a huge crazy Halloween party with all of our closest friends and neighbors. It was the best night ever.&amp;quot; Casey Fremont, Art Production Fund Director &amp;quot;It was early morning in Bridgehampton and Brandon suggested we take our dog Betty to the beautiful dunes in Amagansett. He was oddly adamant about going\u2014and getting there\u2014and was definitely annoyed by my wanting to stop for coffee and a bagel at Brent&amp;#039;s. The walk was completely awkward. Brandon&amp;#039;s anxiety was palpable (and contagious), so for the first time since we met we had nothing to talk about. We walked in silence and Betty started digging. I sat down with her and so did Brandon. He asked me to tell him why I loved him\u2014I (of course!) looked at him like he was crazy for asking such a ridiculous question. Then he reached in to his pocket for the ring. His shorts were tight from sitting so he struggled to get the box out\u2014by that point (impatient as I am) I ended up saying yes before he had the chance to ask! I can&amp;#039;t say I was totally surprised by the engagement, but I was surprised about how I felt right after\u2014in a matter of seconds it seemed I was very grown up and even more in love with my husband-to-be!&amp;quot;  Kerry Pieri, BAZAAR Senior Digital Editor &amp;quot;We were leaving for a long 4th of July weekend in the Hamptons with a group of friends the next morning, so we were having a cozy night in. We ordered dinner and had wine and I noticed he was acting really strangely. I just kept asking him, &amp;#039;Why aren&amp;#039;t you sitting down?&amp;#039; He said he needed to run to the store and when he came back he said, &amp;#039;I got you something.&amp;#039; I figured it was fro-yo, so I said &amp;#039;What?&amp;#039; and hardly looked up. Then I saw a little red box in his hand and I really thought he was joking. Then I got up and he handed it to me. I opened it and saw a diamond ring and hit him in the chest and said &amp;#039;No!&amp;#039; mainly out of shock. I said &amp;#039;Yes!&amp;#039; pretty quickly after that.&amp;quot; Bettina Prentice, Founder Prentice Art Communications &amp;quot;He planned a day of wine tasting throughout the most spectacular vineyards in the Stellenbosch region of South Africa when we were there for a dear friend&amp;#039;s birthday. Every place we visited that afternoon was more and more beautiful and I think he was trying to get me a little drunk! We finally ended up with an incredible picnic under this magnificent tree with views of the surrounding fields, Dutch architecture and mountains. He asked me to marry him and when I said yes the vineyard staff came rushing out with champagne. Then we had dinner that night in a tree house. I mean, flawless planning!&amp;quot; Misha Nonoo, Designer &amp;quot;Alexander had told me that he was taking me away for the weekend to various breeders to pick out a puppy but wouldn&amp;#039;t tell me where as it was a surprise. As I was packing my weekend bag with what I imagined was &amp;quot;puppy selecting&amp;quot; appropriate clothing (mainly old clothes that I wouldn&amp;#039;t mind getting messy or peed on!) he looked at my case with dismay and said &amp;quot;Oh no, we are going somewhere where in the evenings you will need a lovely dress and there&amp;#039;s a spa, too, so you will need a bikini or two!&amp;quot; I was most perplexed as I couldn&amp;#039;t imagine any good breeders that would live in the near vicinity of a lovely restaurant or spa. The next morning he woke me up rather nervously at 6:30 am. He seemed very bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as though he had already been up for hours (which he had!) and was asking me all these questions which at that time seemed rather strange (these included &amp;#039;how do you feel about spending the rest of our lives together&amp;#039; amongst other things) and slowly I realized what he might be up to. He proposed at around 6:45 am in bed and then told me we were in fact off to Turks and Caicos for the weekend. I didn&amp;#039;t get the puppy that weekend but was overjoyed either way.&amp;quot; Nasiba Adilova, Buro 24/7 &amp;quot;He definitely caught me off guard with his proposal. We spoke a lot about getting married and I knew that it was coming sometime soon but had no idea what he had in mind. After spending an entire summer in Europe we returned to our new home that we just moved into. We had planned this trip to Colorado where he grew up so I was certain he would propose there as it seemed like a perfect spot. I was at home madly running around and trying to tidy up my affairs after having just returned from a very long trip when he very suddenly popped the question and caught me by surprise. I was in my work out clothes (Lululemons) as usual, having just had my mani and pedi done (thankfully) and on my way to run a million errands when I received a suspicious call from him saying that he wanted to take me shopping. I suspected that something was up because that is not something he draws great pleasure in, but I figured I better take this opportunity, seeing that it had presented itself! He used this as a delay tactic to draw me out of the house to get set up. When we came home and I walked into our bedroom I saw a million candles all around and a massive heart made out of 250 roses next to the words &amp;#039;Would you marry me&amp;#039; spelled out in rose petals and a little pedestal with a bottle of Dom and two crystal glasses. He got on one knee and proposed. I could not hold back the tears and still remember this as one of the happiest days of my life.&amp;quot; Vintage engagement ring, $22,850, newyorkstatejewelry.com. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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