Robyn was working at a day camp with his sister who was adament on the idea of the two of them dating. Robyn, of course, knew who Adam was but did not want to date him. One night that same summer, Robyn and Adam were hanging out with their friends at the same bar. Adam came over to Robyn’s table and the two of them “officially” met that night. Immediately, Adam was smitten by her. The following night Robyn was out again and Adam purposely came to meet her. Robyn’s friend casually gave Adam her phone number, he called and the rest is history! 

Their love story truly began one weekend in London, Ontario when Jackie and Aaron were both visiting friends. Aaron graciously offered to drive Jackie and her friend home from London. Aaron clearly had an immediate crush on Jackie and this ride home was a way to spend another 2 hours with her. Jackie, of course, felt the same way about Aaron and the two kept in touch. It did not take much time at all for the two to start dating and six years later, Aaron popped the question.

For those that do not know, a l’chaim is an opportunity to gather the bride and groom’s closest family and friends, have a glass of bubbly and make a toast to the newly engaged couple!

Our l’chaim was hosted at my house and we worked for a month to plan every detail. First, we decided on the colour scheme. We chose to go with natural greens, ivory, creams and whites – very bridal and fresh feeling. My mom and I boast an inventory of every flower, votive, platter and linen imaginable but choosing what to include was no easy feat.

Together, we created a gorgeous green and white dessert table that we could not have been happier with. My mom and I both love mirrors so we knew these were definitely going to be incorporated. We transformed mirrored chargers into the backdrop for all the delicious desserts we were displaying.

I definitely wanted to include some fresh flowers so I recruited Dizennio Floral to create a centerpiece consisting of mirrored vases filled with flowers formed in an ombre effect. The flowers transitioned from white to green and included some of my favourite blooms.

Now that decor was taken care of, food was next on the list. I knew I wanted a dessert  and cocktail style menu so I worked with Christina from Truffle to design and bake the most elaborate and delicious desserts. We decided on a showstopping cake for the centerpiece of the table with chocolate mini donuts and macarons on either side. Guests also nibbled on rice krispy hearts, mini whoopie pies, mini key lime pies and custom sugar cookies. The desserts were outstanding and not to mention, gorgeous!

Over the weekend, my dreams became reality and I was proposed to by the love of my life. I thought I would share the story and some photos with all of you.

Just a little background for those that do not know my boyfriend, he is a huge music fan. To begin his plans, he created a fake email trail between his brother and his mom. The conversation involved picking up a super special CD to surprise my boyfriend with for his birthday in 2 weeks. The email trail contained the address, pick up date etc. In order for me to see all of this, his mom forwarded me the email trail asking if I could pick up the package since his whole family was up north at their cottage.

The Saturday the CD was set to arrive was also my boyfriend and my 5 year anniversary. He told me he had to work all day and to meet him downtown at 6. His mom called me in the morning to tell me she would call me the moment she heard the CD had arrived. At 3pm, I had not heard from her and I was stressed that I would not be able to pick it up and be ready for 6pm.

At 4:15pm, she called me and told me that the CD would be arriving at 5:00pm and that the sooner I got it, the better. I quickly got dressed and figured I would kill an hour downtown. I was directed to pick up the CD at the Chapters downtown. I had bought him an anniversary gift so I figured I would buy the wrapping and a card at Chapters in that hour. As I would eventually find out, my gift paled in comparison!

I arrived at the Chapters and asked for Samantha per his mom’s instructions. I told her I was picking up a package and she handed me a book. I immediately said “no, this isn’t for me”. Upon closer inspection, I noticed the title of the book was Walden.”

The two of us met at Camp Walden and this is the book that the camp was named after. I open it up and inside is sitting 2 notes. I immediately recognize my boyfriend’s handwriting and started to figure it out.

The first note told me that I was going to be going on a journey of our relationship and that there was a limo outside waiting to take me around.

I read the second note which included a clue for my first stop. The first stop was meant to represent camp and is a one stop shopping destination for everything camp. I told the driver to take me to Mountain Equipment Co-op. The note instructed me to head to the climbing wall and look up.

I arrive at Mountain Equipment Co-op to find a water bottle hanging from a rope at the wall with another note and pictures of us inside.

The second note is meant to represent our first date and food. The two of us have taken many trips with food being the highlight. Our first date was at TJ Baxter’s in London, Ontario so he sent me to Jack Astors which was the next best thing. At Jack Astors, a menu was waiting for me with another note and pictures of the two of us eating on all our trips.

The third note represented traveling. He told me to go to the nearest hostel where I would have to complete a quiz to get my next clue. I immediately knew it was Global Village Backpackers as the two of us have always joked about staying there.

At the hostel, I was greeted by Helena with another note that gave me a list of places we have visited over the last 5 years. I had to put the places in the order that we visited them. I got it right on the first shot and I was handed my final clue.

The final clue told me to go to the hotel where we celebrated our first anniversary. He gave me the room number in the clue and I told the driver to take me there. I head up and entered into a room covered in trees, flowers and candles – made to look like we were at camp.

I look down the hallway and find my boyfriend sitting on a log waiting for me. He says his speech, gets down on one knee, pops the question,  and of course – I SAID YES!!

Special thanks to Pistil Flowers for their beautiful hand-made floral and wood arrangements and to the Intercontinental Toronto Centre for their hospitality. The biggest thanks of all goes to Camp Walden for bringing us together in the first place!

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The proposal naturally was in another destination, Washington DC, where Dan had planned the picture perfect proposal in a hotel suite covered in rose petals, candles and more rose petals. Surrounded by champagne, chocolate covered strawberries and the love of his life; he got down on one knee and gave Kate his great-grandmother’s diamond.