Ryan & Erika

The proposal was hard to do because Erika and I had been shopping for engagement rings for almost a month.  To help me pick out the perfect ring I enlisted the assistance of her personal friend.  We originally were going to have her go to a time share in Scottsdale.  She was to believe that I was at work and then I would have shown up to pop the question.  Her friend called me on Wednesday (four days before I was going to ask) and told me that we had to come up with a different plan because Erika had figured it out.  She told me to first ask her dad and then she would call me back with a plan.  I then called her dad and he was overjoyed that I wanted to spend my life with his daughter and he gave me his blessing.

Her friend called me back about an hour later.  The plan was to take her to dinner at the Olive Garden and make the proposal there.  Her friend was going to make a small wedding cake and then it would be given to her after dinner.  The problem was that I was off at 3 and there was no time to go to her house and get the cake.  So I called Erika and told her that I would not get off until 6 due to an employee calling in sick.  To make the story sound truer I had my boss shout and curse that I would have to stay due to an employee calling out sick while I was on the phone with Erika.  Thankfully she believed it.  Finally at 3 I got off, drove from Fountain Hills to Gilbert, picked up her friend, drove to the Fry’s, got all the stuff, drove back to her house, spent 2 hours making the cake, then drove to the Olive Garden, gave the cake to the manager and explained what I needed.

Then I finally drove back to Erika’s house to get ready for dinner.  I got home and about an hour later we arrived at Olive Garden.  We were shown to our table (pre arranged near the back, few people were around us) and proceeded to have dinner.  I know Erika usually does not order dessert so after the meal the waiter was supposed to ask if we would like to order pumpkin cheese cake.  The funny thing is that pumpkin cheese cake was not even on the menu!  We finished the meal and when we were done he did ask, and she declined, I then told him that we were all set.  A few minutes later the manager walked right up to her and placed the cake in front of her, with the lettering on top “Will you marry me?” I then walked around the table, got on my knee and asked her to spend the rest of her life with me.  She did not hesitate and said yes!

The manager came up and congratulated us. A couple behind us turned around and started clapping.

For me I joined Great Expectations because dating alone was hard due my very shy personality.  We both had bad experiences and decided to give the company a shot. I (Ryan) was a member with Great Expectations for only 3 months; Erika had been a member for about a year and a half.

We have never been married nor had any children before (unless you count 3 cats).
At this time we leaned toward moving in a few years to Sacramento, which is very close to her step sisters, mom, and step dad.

I would tell anyone who is thinking of joining that Great Expectations gave me a chance to meet someone and due to a very loving, thoughtful staff I was given a chance where others would never have given me the time of day.  I would encourage anyone who is just thinking of joining because the Great Expectations staff does more than work, they take pride in their jobs. They gave me a chance and that has given me the most incredible memories of the woman I plan to spend the rest of my life with.