We met in the most Wellington way possible: while we were working at Parliament. Our first encounter was on Aaron's first day working for a Member of Parliament and he was being shown around the Parliamentary precinct when he was introduced to Jennifer. From there, we saw each other only on the odd occasion, but the moments we shared - no matter how short or awkward - shaped the base of our relationship.
One of those early moments is one that we both remember fondly and came during a function for staff that the Prime Minister was hosting. We made small talk and prepared for our audience with The Boss. There was so much food and we both took much delight in sampling the delicious treats on offer. Aaron decided that he had to try the Russian fudge. At the exact moment he bit into it, the other half dropped into a glass of water and it splashed all over his shirt and tie. While he thought he had escaped detection, Jennifer's uncontrollable laughter gave the game away, and she wasn't the only person to see - the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff saw this out of the corner of his eye, sighed to himself, and diverted the Prime Minister away from us, and our audience was not to be, though we both had a better time anyway.
From there, a good friendship formed and we found ourselves spending more and more time together. The rest is history...
Operation Amadeus
THE PLAN Tchaikovsky, Rossini, Shakespare, Gilbert & Sullivan, and Bizet - these composers and playwrights are some of our favourites. We leap at any opportunity we get to see a ballet or opera, but the one composer that occupies a special place in our hearts is Mozart.
Aaron never knew how he would propose to Jennifer, but knew music would be involved; the proposal - codenamed Operation Amadeus - was conceived and executed in the space of 12 hours.
THE RING Aaron had always known the style of ring he wanted to give Jennifer, but could never find anything that looked vaguely similar to what he had pictured in his mind. In secret, he worked for five months with a jeweller to bring those designs to life.
The day finally came to pick up the ring, though it wasn't until he was about to leave work that he became extremely nervous and paranoid that he would be caught. Just in case Jennifer or any of her friends happened to walk past at that time, Aaron called Jackson, his best man, and asked if he would mind acting as a lookout while he went into the jeweller and picked up the ring.
Jackson and Aaron circled the block twice, just to make sure the coast was clear. When he was satisfied that he wasn't being spied on, Aaron picked up the ring, ran back to the car, and sped home to find a safe hiding place, however, the ring wouldn't stay hidden for long.
CONVINCING THE IN-LAWS That same night, Denise, Jennifer's mum and Jo, a close family friend, were staying with us. Still ridden with paranoia and only 10 minutes after hiding the ring in the house, Aaron messaged Denise and Jo saying he had something desperately urgent to tell them and we needed to make an excuse to get out of the house.
"Let's go out for ice cream - Jennifer, you can stay here and we'll bring yours back", Aaron said convincingly (or so he hoped).
The elevator ride to the apartment lobby and the 30 second walk to the cafe was the longest moment of Aaron's life. He ordered peppermint and chocolate gelato even though he wasn't hungry, but needed to keep up appearances. While the gelato tub sat on the counter melting, he pulled the ring out of his pocket.
Neither Denise or Jo said anything for awhile. More long moments ensued, until the awkward silence was replaced with tears and sobs of joy. In-laws sufficiently convinced.
POPPING THE QUESTION The following evening, we were attending the New Zealand Opera's performance of The Magic Flute, with Mark and Shimal Calderwood, who are both in our wedding party and very close friends. Aaron had tipped them off that something big would be happening, but neither them nor Aaron knew exactly how the day would play out.
Aaron didn't sleep much the night before. If you know him well, you know he overthinks and over-rehearses plans and timings down to the second. This is one plan he knew he couldn't mess up.
The plan, even though it was less than 12 hours old at this point, was to propose to Jennifer at the conclusion of The Magic Flute. However, Aaron wasn't confident that he could keep the secret under wraps for that long, so changed tact - besides, she would terribly ruin her makeup from the crying, and who wants that on a night out?
Jennifer was missing one crucial item for her outfit, so decided on Saturday morning to pick it up from Cuba Street. I suggested I come along and get coffee on the way home, and also pick up our tickets from the box office at the St James Theatre. The St James was were we had our first date, and has been a place we have enjoyed many productions and shows since - our happy place, if you will.
When we arrived, Aaron obviously knew the box office was closed, and diverted to a bench under the stairs where they both sat down and started talking.
He wasn't nervous when he asked the question. He became nervous when Jennifer didn't say anything. For a long time.
Finally, after a lot of crying, she said yes, and here we are today, preparing for our wedding and planning a lifelong journey of travelling to far-flung places and patting as many dogs as we can.
