such_heights: amy pond in her wedding dress (who: amy [wedding])
Amy ([personal profile] such_heights) wrote2014-08-11 11:36 pm

I love you so who needs Romeo

A couple of weeks ago I sent [personal profile] purplefringe an email:

So the thing is that waiting until the end of September is two whole months away and that’s so looong omg.

Do you know what’s not far away? Nine Worlds. Do you what’s awesome? Convention proposals. We'd never get the rings organised in time but I've found a good stand in one that is cheap but the same kind of colours/style.

It could be during a panel, or during the Lashings show, or I could enlist some helpers do some kind of lobbycon thing? If I do it on the day we're both cosplaying there could be a whole Iron Man shenanigans thing idk.


[personal profile] happydork and I had been engaged-to-be-engaged for a while, you see. Discussing it amongst ourselves and with a few friends, but not making it public. We're going on holiday next month and were going to do it then. But lovely as that would have been, I had a better idea.

One of my favourite Lashings acts is a riff off Taylor Swift's Love Story - you can watch a typical Lashings performance here. I'd never performed it myself before, but given the choreography includes a proposal and everything, it seemed too perfect an opportunity to pass up.

I double-checked with [personal profile] happydork that she felt positively about a public proposal (as detailed in her post, with very accurate annotations), consulted with fellow Lashers to check that they'd all feel happy being part of this, and also asked the organiser of the LGBTQIA track how they felt about it. I wanted to do this publicly so that we could share the moment with our community, so getting the go ahead from a few different people felt very important. We also realised we'd need to let the audience know ahead of time that this was a mutually agreed event and not something awful and pressuring.

I spent a lot of time listening to Taylor Swift on a loop and singing in odd places where [personal profile] happydork wasn't around - the shower was a big help. Then it was rehearsals with my Lashings co-conspirators and lots of excited flailing at [personal profile] purplefringe and Awesome Housemate K whenever [personal profile] happydork was elsewhere.

It's a surprisingly hard thing to keep secret! I kept nearly dropping myself in it as we discussed convention plans, but luckily I more or less managed not to entirely give the game away.

In the run up I was actually pretty calm - it was all organised, I knew what I was doing, now I had to go speak on another panel so couldn't think about it anyway. Then on Saturday afternoon I went back to my hotel room to get my stage clothes together and it suddenly struck me. It's an amazing feeling, knowing you're about to experience something that you'll remember for the rest of your life. It became nearly impossible to focus on anything else, so of course time slowed to a crawl.

We were headlining, and I couldn't pay as much attention to the other acts as I would have liked. I just sat and half-listened and thought about the ring sitting backstage.

We'd gone through staging ahead of time so I knew where [personal profile] happydork needed to be, and gently positioned her there during the interval. Somehow, when the Lashings set started I managed to get through the other two acts I was in reasonably well - probably a blessing really as it didn't give me any more time to sit and stew. And then suddenly it was time.

I don't think it was the best vocal performance of my life, with the nerves shaking up my tuning. But I knew what I was doing and carried through, singing out to the crowd, and then I turned around and there she was, in all her Stark glory -- tank top and grease stains and arc reactor and eyeliner goatee. There was a moment where it still looked like she wasn't sure, or couldn't quite believe it, but then I went down on one knee and we both sort of melted, and suddenly she was kneeling down next to me and hugging me while a crowd of people got to their feet and cheered.

As soon as the noise died down, [personal profile] happydork said words that will be etched onto my soul forever: "Holy fucking shitballs, you guys are all arseholes. Also, yes." I've told her she's not allowed to put that in her vows but I'm not sure she's listening to me.

After that it was just a whirlwind of tears, hugs, congratulations and being completely enveloped in love. We got well-wishes from beloved friends who were there with us and from people we'd never met. Also from Thor, Wonder Woman and the Glow Cloud.

The whole thing went better than I could have ever hoped. We drank, dance, and finally went back to our hotel in the middle of a rainstorm, singing all the way.
lovelythings: a photo of a red car by a lake and some people having a picnic (Default)

[personal profile] lovelythings 2014-08-11 10:42 pm (UTC)(link)
MY EYES ARE ALL WATERY WITh JOY.
starlady: Mako's face in the jaeger, in profile (mako mori is awesome)

[personal profile] starlady 2014-08-11 10:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Best story ever. CONGRATULATIONS.
kass: Captain America's shield. (shield)

[personal profile] kass 2014-08-11 10:48 pm (UTC)(link)
This is SO AWESOME I CAN'T EVEN.

forthwritten: sketch of the Fourth Doctor and Romana with the caption "two Time Lords are better than one" (two heads are better than one)

[personal profile] forthwritten 2014-08-11 11:04 pm (UTC)(link)
omg, you two <3
siria: (Default)

[personal profile] siria 2014-08-11 11:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, what a lovely story! Congrats to you both :)
mindabbles: (Default)

[personal profile] mindabbles 2014-08-11 11:45 pm (UTC)(link)
THAT is a STORY!!! A life together that begins that way can't help but be awesome. Congratulations!!!!
laurashapiro: a woman sits at a kitchen table reading a book, cup of tea in hand. Table has a sliced apple and teapot. A cat looks on. (Default)

[personal profile] laurashapiro 2014-08-12 12:35 am (UTC)(link)
Oh my goodness, congratulations! And also yay, what fun!!!
pocky_slash: (Default)

[personal profile] pocky_slash 2014-08-12 12:51 am (UTC)(link)
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
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[personal profile] livrelibre 2014-08-12 01:09 am (UTC)(link)
That is so awesome and congrats again to you both!
magnetic_pole: (Default)

[personal profile] magnetic_pole 2014-08-12 01:19 am (UTC)(link)
What a wonderful story! Congratuations! M.
niqaeli: cat with arizona flag in the background (Default)

[personal profile] niqaeli 2014-08-12 01:20 am (UTC)(link)
This is a really fantastic proposal story and I love that you negotiated it ahead and made sure the audience knew that it was negotiated as well.

Do you have the lyrics for the song up somewhere? I tried googling and couldn't turn up much and unfortunately the audio quality in the performance you linked + my auditory processing issues mean I can't really understand it. (The choreography alone made me tear up, though.)

ETA: ...also, ahahaha, I thought I'd included congratulations and then I realised I hadn't. Congratulations to you both! :)
Edited 2014-08-12 01:20 (UTC)
sebastienne: (notebook)

[personal profile] sebastienne 2014-08-12 07:56 am (UTC)(link)
Lyrics are available at http://www.lashings.org/lyrics/ - scroll down to 'Love Story'.
niqaeli: cat with arizona flag in the background (Default)

[personal profile] niqaeli 2014-08-12 09:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! (I'd turned up the Lashings web-site but somehow managed to miss the lyrics page.)
mrkinch: Viggo with hand to his chest (heartfull)

[personal profile] mrkinch 2014-08-12 01:28 am (UTC)(link)
Fantastic!*sniffles happily*
out_there: B-Day Present '05 (Default)

[personal profile] out_there 2014-08-12 02:14 am (UTC)(link)
AWWW! and YAY!
kouredios: yellow heart in a striped bowl (Heart)

[personal profile] kouredios 2014-08-12 03:27 am (UTC)(link)
This story makes me SO HAPPY. Like, I think it needs to be made into a movie or something. And then happy kid!fic written by its fandom afterwards.
calvinahobbes: Calvin holding a cardboard tv-shape up in front of himself (Default)

[personal profile] calvinahobbes 2014-08-12 05:12 am (UTC)(link)
That is the Best Story :D Thanks for sharing it. And congratulations again :)
magic_at_mungos: (waving lucy by ninneve)

[personal profile] magic_at_mungos 2014-08-12 06:12 am (UTC)(link)
<3 \o/ Congratulations!
elwinfortuna: (epic tennant/barrowman kiss)

[personal profile] elwinfortuna 2014-08-12 06:27 am (UTC)(link)
As someone in the audience, it was a moment of just incandescent joy and I'm so grateful that I got to see it. I'm still tearing up when I think about it and probably will for some time to come! Definitely the highlight of Nine Worlds for me - in a con that had so many awesome things, this was definitely the awesomest.

Congratulations, so many congratulations!
silverhare: drawing of a grey hare (misc - dragon hoard of bunnies [art])

[personal profile] silverhare 2014-08-12 08:09 am (UTC)(link)
<3 I'm not crying you're crying. <3
anatsuno: a black and wide photo of anatsuno, grinning (all about ana)

[personal profile] anatsuno 2014-08-12 12:53 pm (UTC)(link)
I am beaming at you from across land and sea :D So happy for you!!
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[personal profile] toft 2014-08-12 01:40 pm (UTC)(link)
This is all adorable - but can I just say that I am so happy and impressed at your obtaining-consent-in-advance-for-public-proposal? It sounds like you managed to give [personal profile] happydork all the best of both worlds. You are a GREAT girlfriend and will be a great life-partner-wife-thing. <3
raanve: (Fandom: Avengers: Steve/Tony LOL)

[personal profile] raanve 2014-08-12 02:34 pm (UTC)(link)
This is so wonderful :) Congrats to you both!! <3
aria: (Default)

[personal profile] aria 2014-08-12 03:41 pm (UTC)(link)
I am so so so so happy for you guys, I keep smiling all over my face, CONGRATS <333
antediluvian: (girl has an army behind her)

[personal profile] antediluvian 2014-08-12 08:03 pm (UTC)(link)
I just want to keep reading accounts of this proposal! It was so awesome. :))) Also it was really lovely to meet you, I'd heard such nice things about you from [personal profile] qian.
Edited 2014-08-12 20:04 (UTC)
laceblade: Risa of Lovely Complex, contorting thumbs & index fingers into a heart, winking (Love*Com: Risa Heart)

[personal profile] laceblade 2014-08-12 11:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Congratulations!!!
lokifan: black Converse against a black background (Default)

[personal profile] lokifan 2014-08-13 06:20 pm (UTC)(link)
OMG SO LOVELY. Also wow the Lashings video you linked made me well up (it was the hand to hand is holy palmer's kiss choreography) so I cannot even imagine how amazing this was!
be_themoon: (and that was all she wrote)

[personal profile] be_themoon 2014-08-16 09:19 pm (UTC)(link)
omfg girl I am so so happy for you!! that is awesome and beautiful (and also you are the coolest for making sure beforehand she would be cool with a public thing) and you can't see me but I am just making this stupid delighted grin chinhands thing.

GO YOU GUYS enjoy everything <3333
niyalune: (Default)

[personal profile] niyalune 2014-08-16 09:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Congratulations :D
cesy: "Cesy" - An old-fashioned quill and ink (Default)

[personal profile] cesy 2014-08-16 10:38 pm (UTC)(link)
It was so cool to be there.