This is part two of the proposal story. It's great on it's own, but you should consider starting at Part One.

Putting It All Together

My last post was all about why I chose to feature goats, and how I was to set things up. Now it's time to tell you what happened. You'll recall a few of my key ingredients.

I managed to get them all. The parents were bringing the flowers, the bow-ties and ridiculous rings I had delivered to work to keep them free from prying eyes. A few friends helped out with the goat wrangling and setup. My friend Chuck and his daughter Sofia graciously helped as my camera crew. They shot almost all these photos, I only did the post-processing.

Our friends Rick and Lauren offered their backyard for my little scheme, as well as some creative fabrication with which to bait my unsuspecting betrothed. She knew that something was happening, but that it was just an early birthday surprise. I hoped this would provide a plausible excuse for dressing up. Rick played his part by asking us if we could stop by his house after yoga to pick up a travel gift he had gotten us. Maybe by this point D was starting to think something fishy was going on, but that was okay. It didn't need to be a total surprise so long as I got her with the nature of the surprise.

So while D and I were at home getting ready to go out for her birthday surprise, the gang were all down at Rick and Lauren's setting up for us.

Genevieve and Trevor from City Grazing were also there unloading the goats.

I'm not exactly sure how they got the goats down from the pickup.  Did they jump?

I wasn't there of course, but I guess everyone grabbed a goat and headed for the backyard.

Herb Moore was there to provide some pleasant background music with which to get my woo on. You can learn more about his music at his website and on iTunes.

Entrance

The stage was set! D and I showed up at the front door. We were ostensibly there so that Rick could give her a gift he picked up in Vancouver. After passing that along (organic maple syrup, because Canada) he said we just had to see the new tree he was growing in his backyard.  That seemed a little strange, but hey, I can appreciate that I didn't give him much to work with. So with a (somewhat suspicious) girlfriend in hand, we followed them out back.

Cue the Music

The yard was vibrant, despite it being late summer. The airy strains of Herb's guitar drifted to us on the breeze. He was seated on the opposite side of the large central tree and came into view as we continued walking.

The Language of Flowers

Rick and Lauren are some classy cats, but they don't normally keep a musician on retainer. D was pretending not to notice. I guess I was hoping for a bigger reaction, but I think she was holding back to let me continue the unveil. After all, she knew what was coming at this point....

I think I have the audio recorded somewhere, but it's more fun to work from memory. I think I said,

As you've guessed by now, this isn't a detour. This is your surprise!

Music's a great start, but what romantic gesture would be complete without flowers?

With that, my parents and our friend Marion came out from hiding, each carrying several roses.

I was off to a great start, if I do say so myself, but there was more, of course.

The roses are great, but you know, any guy can get you flowers. It's romantic, but easy. I wanted to do something truly special, and so I present to you this bouquet of goats.

And so I dropped to one knee, held out the ring and said,

Standing here, before goats and men, I ask if you will marry me?

She kissed me, then immediately turned around and started petting Doublestuff! I had to tap her on the shoulder to say, "Hey, do you perhaps want to check out the ring?"

:)

A Taste for Roses

That's about it! We thanked everyone for their help and spent some good quality time together. We kind of got an engagement party twofer out of it. One more funny thing happened, though. We were posing for shots with one of the goats (I think it was Doublestuff) and things were going well...

until he caught scent of the roses.

You know that phrase "stubborn as a goat"? Well from that moment on he decided he was going to get one of those roses, even if he'd have to climb over us. We had been feeding them pea pods, but now he just ignored those. Ignored free food!

We ended up giving in, because they were being so good (but mostly to avoid being trampled).

I hoped you enjoyed the story and will leave some comments.

Thanks again to:

• Doublestuff, Petunia, Star, and Willie from City Grazing, as well as their humans: Genevieve, Trevor and David!
• Chuck and Sofia for photography.
• Herb for the music.
• Our parents and friends.

Liked the story? Please leave your comments below! Follow my photography page by subscribing (right sidebar) or Liking Us on Facebook (upper right Facebook icon).