We Got Affianced!

I took Nicci out to a fancy French restaurant Friday night - Brasserie Max and Julie - and I popped the Big Question! Of course, being a crafty nerd, I didn't just ask her in words. After dessert, the manager came out with a half bottle of special cuvee, two champagne flutes (you can see them in the picture above), and a purple box wrapped in purple ribbon (purple is one of Nicci's favorite colors):


I made the box earlier that day (who needs to go to work?) from cardboard and coated it with craft paper. Here is another picture of the "mystery box" in natural light (from the day after), without the ribbon:


When Nicci removed the ribbon, the box opened up to reveal a message (this picture is also from the next day, since we couldn't get a good picture in the restaurant):


Also inside the box was a special "placeholder" ring. (We are custom-making our rings through our jeweler in Houston.) The ring even has a hand-made "diamond" and it fits perfectly on Nicci's finger (I used one of her rings at home to get the right size):


She loved the box and the ring... and she said yes!