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Inside an Engagment

photoEver since I discovered the show Say Yes to the Dress, I could not help but picture my dream wedding.

Then I made an account on Pinterest, a social media website that allows you to “pin” pretty much anything on the internet on virtual pin boards.

On my Pinterest page, you can find hundreds of pins about clothes I can not afford, hairstyles I could never create, recipes that never look like their pictures do corny homemade Christmas gifts and of course pins about my dream wedding.

I have my wedding dress and my engagement ring picked out and I know what my future husband’s groomsmen will be wearing- grey pants with a matching vest and a coral tie, no jacket.

I’m not ashamed of it. One of the most important days of girl’s life is her wedding day.

In fact each day, 3,100 girls put on a white dress and walk down an aisle and each day 3,100 men stand at the end of an aisle waiting for their bride.

But before these 2.3 million couples can tie the knot, these 2.3 million couples need to get engaged, which means that the 3,100 men have to come up with a creative way to ask those 3,100 woman to marry them or vice versa.

When Meghan Hatch, Woodland English teacher, was little, she had no interest in fantasying about her dream wedding like other young girls.

“There was a time when I would tell my mother that I was never getting married.” said Hatch, “I just had other things on my mind.”

Recently Hatch got engaged to fellow Woodland English teacher, Paul Geary.

The couple met at Woodland and have been dating for a few years., and a few months ago, Geary decided it was time for him to propose for Hatch.

“I didn’t want to do it around the holidays or anything,” said Geary “I wanted it to be totally unpredictable. That’s why I picked a random Saturday night in January.”

But before Geary could get down on one knee, he had some planning to do.

For the ring, Geary chose to use his great aunt’s wedding ring, which is nearly 70 years old.

“I was most nervous about having the ring,” said Geary. “I didn’t want it in the house, I was afraid she would find it or I would lose it.”

On the night of the proposal Geary went into the garage,  hid the ring, set up a bucket of champagne and leaned a card against the bucket. Phase one was complete

Then Geary and Hatch  went out for a casual dinner with  friends. While they were out, Geary arranged for Hatch’s parents to come to his house and move the engagement setup out of the garage and into the living room.  Phase two, done.

Upon arriving home, Hatch found the card.

While Hatch was busy reading the card, Geary got the ring and got down on one knee

“The bottom of the card said now turns around,” Hatch explains, “So I turned around.”

When she did, Geary asked the age old question and. according to Hatch, “of course I said yes!”

Phase three was a success.

Hatch said that she could never have imaged that getting engaged would feel so special.

“Then the visions of the wedding start to dance in your head,” said Hatch, “You just can’t help but think about it.”

But before they could start planning phase four, Hatch and Geary had to tell Woodland.

“I never realized how invested in our relationship people at Woodland were,” Geary joked.

Both faculty and students congratulated the couple. Hatch’s advisory threw her a mini engagement party, and everytime Geary walked into one of his classes he received a round of applause for popping the question.

For days all students could talk about was their wedding, and eventually the legend of their love story grew and grew

“Apparently I proposed in a garage, and we are getting married in the library with Harry the Hawk officiating,” said Geary.

All rumors aside, both Hatch and Geary never imagined that the response from Woodland would be so positive.

“Woodland’s a really special school,” said Hatch. “Everyone here is just so happy for us,”

“I know some people whose work place could care less about things like this,” said Geary, “It’s great that we get to share it with so many students and coworkers who care.”