Geeky Gamer Wedding Proposal

Hey Folks,

This is a year of pretty big milestones for Natasha and me. Not only are we building brands like GeekSide and CurlQuest, we have also gotten engaged and married. Here is the story of my geeky gamer wedding proposal.

 

We have been together for a decade.

 

However, we have made mistakes, had to learn each other, and understand some truths about our team dynamic as we have grown together.

 

But 10 years is a LONG TIME…

Now, I know this is abnormal (in theory) that a couple mutually agrees to “wait” but, I would be lying if I told you we or any couple is “normal”.

For us, we both respect marriage and despite both coming from parents who have divorced, we recognized not only how special it is to want to have a lifetime bond with a person.  We also have in common the fact that our parents hold their former spouses in very high regard and never speak ill of them.

Being exposed to this, seeing what it really means to love a person even if things do not go as planned, strengthened our belief in love. So,when we found one another and realized how we felt, we were [Soulbound] like rarest of legendary gear.

Up until recently, we had lofty ideals involving a big expensive wedding that we weren’t really making any progress towards.  Because of the stability and love in our relationship, people constantly ask:

When is the Wedding?

But we are also dreamers. We thought “when we get this “or when we have this much saved, we were putting the need for security over the need to make it happen so… naturally, it hadn’t happened.

Not until 2015, we were coming up on 10 years that we had known each other and we wanted to see the world wanted more out of life. Our procrastination and waiting became a setback.  We decided that we had waited long enough.

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A Golden Opportunity

In 2014, we attended our first Game Developer’s conference (GDC) as Conference Associates (CAs are  the epic volunteers who loved games and the chance to help people while geeking out about the industry!)

We also attended the first ever GDC Wedding.  It was epic and I thought, that is a great idea, but I refused to be that guy, you know, the one who proposes at someone’s wedding. 

Fast-forward to Winter of 2016 and we had just come off a rough week, primarily and secondarily my fault, but  V-day was around the corner and I had decided to half-ass my Valentine’s Day plans to further irritate and  misdirect Tasha as I geared up for the proposal.  I knew that it was going to make Natasha frustrated with me but it would get her to pay less attention to some of the things I was doing (this is NOT recommended to all couples).

So, I started planning the proposal and I immediately thought that I want it to be different. She is not the type of person to want a big audience. Nor, would she really want a fancy dinner with a #RingInTheChampagne (she is a germophobe and would think that is disgusting).  So I thought about what she likes, I knew her very favorite game series is Zelda, so I thought:

What if I send her on a quest?

 

The wheels really started turning. I presented the idea of this geeky gamer wedding proposal to some of the other CA’s (GDC volunteers that we work with) to make it possible.

My advice on how to propose:

Once a part of your plan is finalized, start making it happen!

Get a supportive  team to help you!

As soon as I presented my idea they were fully on board!

Set on a Zelda theme, I found  a Zelda inspired engagement ring

and found a great 8-bit ring box.

After I found them I bought them immediately and had them sent to my job.

I started finding the things I would use for quest items like the new hoodie as her “tunic”, the sword, and the idea of triforce shaped Twix bars.  All those images can be found in the photo album here. We went through several iterations of the plan before it was finalized, but because we were hard at work it happened smoothly.

There were some hiccups; the Triforce Twix turning into the Hearts because there are no triangular cookie cutters, Majora was reworked and finished the night before the proposal, but I had people helping me every step of the way and I was determined. One of the biggest challenges was transporting things and distracting Tasha.  Her god sister helped here immensely.

I recommend that you get the aid of your significant other’s best friend as a quest companion.

There was a moment when I realized that I was going to need a bigger bag to fit all these things and she was there to “pretend” that she needed a bigger bag for conference swag (oh the tee shirts…), when really I had told her to say that in front of Tasha while I sat in the parking lot with the bag already purchased.  I have also been helping Tasha with her “surprise-ruining syndrome.” She tends to overthink and it makes surprises unwelcomed so every now and then I tell her to “roll with it” it is my way of saying “look this is something you will like, I am being spontaneous, just trust me.”

Finally,

Document the moment.

Over the years, we have been together all this time and have very few pictures together. Taking the time to show this process and recording the proposal is a way we can keep this memory and share it with others.  So, without further ado, I present:

The Legend of Tasha: A Geek Proposal

 

We are so grateful that our relationship is positively influencing others.  That is why, as we plan for our traditional ceremony for next year, we are also writing our first book The Relationship Strategy Guide.

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