The Setup: Dani thought she was attending a bonfire on the farm to kick off the July 4th weekend. Chris reached out to a few friends, including Devin, and said “if Dani asks if you’re coming to my bonfire Thursday night, say yes.”
While Dani thought Chris was at work, he was actually hard at work back in Nazareth. Along one of the trails in the woods is a circular clearing. Chris hung 200ft of lights 20ft high from the trees, hung pictures of their vacations and trips on twine with clothespins, and carved “D + C” into a tree at the center of the clearing.
The problem: This also happened to be the same weekend that a hurricane was moving up the East Coast… resulting in lots of rain. The good news here is Dani’s inexperience in fire lighting; never did she question the ability to light the bonfire should it rain all day/night.
Chris finished up around 4:00PM, around the same time that Dani left work. As usual, Dani called Chris when she left work. Being in the middle of the woods, Chris looked down at his phone and decided not to answer… he rode his 4-wheeler out of the woods, got in his car, started it, then called Dani back. This made it sound as if he was driving home from work as well. They then made plans for dinner and the “bon fire” was up in the air because of the coming rain.
With ring in pocket and wireless remote to start the lights, Chris headed off for a casual dinner out with Dani… around the same time it started pouring rain. During dinner, Chris must have checked his weather app no less than 537 times. And there it was… in the middle of a solid green/red radar picture was a gap in the rain. Chris figured he had about 30min of no rain starting in about 45min. Perfect timing as the dinner check just arrived.
After a quick stop at Dani’s parent’s house for the selection of the proper footwear and 3 outfit changes, they set out for Chris’s parent’s farm for the “bon fire”.
Chris had done some recon earlier in the week to know when it would be dark enough for the lights to give the proper effect, and for the pics to be hidden until the big reveal, but still light enough to drive the 4-wheeler down the trail with the headlights off (because conveniently, the headlight “had a short”). 9:00PM was his target.
Around 9:00PM they turned onto the long driveway of the farm. Secretly, Chris couldn’t believe that they were on time and it wasn’t raining. Chris told Dani that they had to ride into the woods and get the cart of firewood that he had cut earlier in the week. The very last minutes of sunlight, moonlight, and the flicker of fireflies lit the way. Being excited, Chris forgot about the mud that would be on the trail after hours of rain. Somehow, mud flew right past the couple, leaving them unmarked.
Once they arrived in the clearing, Chris pointed out the other 4-wheeler and cart full of wood, drawing Dani’s attention away from the pictures hidden in the dark. “Hey, while I was back here cutting wood I carved our names into a tree”, Chris said. “Aww how cute!”, Dani replied. Chris then led Dani over to the center tree and said “Here, let me give you some light to see it”, and with a push of a button in his pocket, the forest lit up with 1,400 watts of incandescent brilliance.
Proposal Photos:
