What's the only thing better than receiving a Mixbook photo book for a birthday present?
A birthday photo book with a proposal at the end! After chronicling every event the two shared during their relationship, including the first time they met, their first date, formal dances, graduation, vacations, the first time they said, "I love you," date nights, and holidays, Chris ended his girlfriend Steph's birthday photo book with a question (We'll bet you can guess what Chris asked Steph!). In Chris' own words, here's the story of how he used a Mixbook photo book to propose to his girlfriend. Take it away, Chris!
The Proposal Idea:
I originally started my digital scrapbook as a birthday present idea for my girlfriend (since she loves doing the memory books from scratch but I don’t have the patience to use scissors and glue). I stumbled across Mixbook and instantly fell in love with the user interface and the ability to upload just about anything. Through looking at all of the wedding book examples on the site, I came up with an idea to propose with my scrapbook. I worked on the book [which features many different layouts] for over a year secretly taking pictures of presents, keeping tickets, and writing down dates. I was able to date the scrapbook back to the time we first met at a rock concert in Columbus, Ohio with mutual friends.
The Proposal Setup Idea:
I was able to get Steph’s mom to help me out with setting up the proposal (since Steph was living in Philadelphia and I was working in Dayton, Ohio, I didn’t have much leeway to setup). I decided to propose to Steph on her birthday since I was flying out there for the weekend. I took her out to dinner at a restaurant called The Melt outside of Philly. While we were dining, her mom was setting up the proposal back at the house. I had brought with me 100 tea candles, Peanut M&Ms, and three birthday presents. There was a pathway of candles starting from the front door, leading into the family room. The whole house was dark with a fire in the fireplace. In the family room on the middle of the floor was a giant heart outline made of candles. Inside the candle outline were red peanut M&Ms (her favorite candy), which kind of made the heart look red. In the middle of the heart were my three birthday presents (the Mixbook was on the bottom).
The Proposal Idea, Itself:
When we finished eating and got back to the house, I stopped her at the door and told her that I wanted to do something a little romantic for her birthday and to “not read too much into it” (I still wanted to make sure it was a surprise). We went in and she was pretty impressed (her mother was hiding upstairs)! She opened her first two “regular” birthday presents and then got to the Mixbook. She absolutely loved it! We sat down on the couch and started going through it page by page and reminiscing about all the events within our relationship. Before we got to the last page I made her stand up (she got really confused). I then had her turn the page and there was an empty ring box pictured. I got down on one knee and proposed. And she said yes!
Congratulations, Chris and Steph! View Chris' entire proposal photo book, complete with photos of special mementos like playlist of songs, a flower bouquet, graduation ceremony program, map from vacation, game and concert tickets, and Valentine's Day photo cards, photo Christmas cards, and birthday greeting cards and gifts (Learn how to upload your own stickers to photo books!).
