Elodie comes to stay with me for New Years 2005.

This is a photo I took in Gruyere, Switzerland. At the time, I had no idea that I would return to this same place to start preparing for my wedding proposal.

One of my closest and best friends. This is Victor, who was one of my accomplices for my proposal.

I've known Dave for over 25 or 26 years now. He can be credited with capturing the images of the actual proposal.

The guys and I at a wedding

Elodie and I in France

Many people have been asking me about how I popped the question. The story goes back about 4 months when I decided I was going to do this. I knew that there was a family stone on hold for me in Switzerland, but I couldn't tell Elodie that, or come up with a good enough reason for both of us to go on short notice. So, I told her I had a conference in Rochester. No offense to Rochester natives, but I was quite certain Elodie would take little interest in this and wouldn't ask me any questions I wouldn't be able to answer down the line.

I then took a flight to Switzerland to collect the stone over a weekend. While I was there, I had already considered how I was going to propose, but I suddenly was further inspired while downing a steaming hot piece of bread covered in melted gruyere. I went and asked a handful of people if I could have their kids pose with signs that we had written up, detailing why I had lied to Elodie, and why I was in Switzerland.

When I returned to the US, I had the stone set and quickly sent the images to be printed on a poster. I convinced the owners of Tiny Jewel Box to put the image up in their window "as one of their ads" after they closed the night I had decided on proposing. All was set except for the fact that there would be scores of people on the sidewalk. So I asked 4 of my friends, Han, Zach, Dave, and Vic, to act as accomplices and block pedestrian traffic on both sides of the street to give me enough time to pop the question.

So I took my girlfriend out to dinner, and then went for a walk around Dupont. I then mentioned that we should go see my new "ad" at Tiny Jewel Box, which would be nothing out of the ordinary. As we made our way to the store, I could spot some of my friends waiting to take their position, but to their credit they were completely unrecognizable due to their fantastic disguises.

Once we crossed the street I stalled long enough for the sidewalk to clear and then walked up to the store window to show Elodie the ad. While she was examining it, I quickly got down on one knee and pulled out the ring. Elodie turned around, confused and ready to interrogate me on the poster, when I surprised her with the ring and popped the question.

From her expression I could tell my plan had worked perfectly and she was not at all expecting it. She promptly accepted and we returned home after a celebratory drink with my four accomplices.

Many people have been asking me about how I popped the question. The story goes back about 4 months when I decided I was going to do this. I knew that there was a family stone on hold for me in Switzerland, but I couldn't tell Elodie that, or come up with a good enough reason for both of us to go on short notice. So, I told her I had a conference in Rochester. No offense to Rochester natives, but I was quite certain Elodie would take little interest in this and wouldn't ask me any questions I wouldn't be able to answer down the line.

I then took a flight to Switzerland to collect the stone over a weekend. While I was there, I had already considered how I was going to propose, but I suddenly was further inspired while downing a steaming hot piece of bread covered in melted gruyere. I went and asked a handful of people if I could have their kids pose with signs that we had written up, detailing why I had lied to Elodie, and why I was in Switzerland.

When I returned to the US, I had the stone set and quickly sent the images to be printed on a poster. I convinced the owners of Tiny Jewel Box to put the image up in their window "as one of their ads" after they closed the night I had decided on proposing. All was set except for the fact that there would be scores of people on the sidewalk. So I asked 4 of my friends, Han, Zach, Dave, and Vic, to act as accomplices and block pedestrian traffic on both sides of the street to give me enough time to pop the question.

So I took my girlfriend out to dinner, and then went for a walk around Dupont. I then mentioned that we should go see my new "ad" at Tiny Jewel Box, which would be nothing out of the ordinary. As we made our way to the store, I could spot some of my friends waiting to take their position, but to their credit they were completely unrecognizable due to their fantastic disguises.

Once we crossed the street I stalled long enough for the sidewalk to clear and then walked up to the store window to show Elodie the ad. While she was examining it, I quickly got down on one knee and pulled out the ring. Elodie turned around, confused and ready to interrogate me on the poster, when I surprised her with the ring and popped the question.

From her expression I could tell my plan had worked perfectly and she was not at all expecting it. She promptly accepted and we returned home after a celebratory drink with my four accomplices.

This is the poster that was in the window. Click on "Original" to see the largest size if you can't read the writing, which, is in French.

Finally, this is the plan that went with the instructions for my accomplices.