About the couple

Bride: Sarah Schilbe

Groom: Ryan Stevens

How they met: “We met by chance at a party that neither of us had planned to attend. On opposite sides of the room our eyes met a few times throughout the night. When I decided to call it a night, myself and a friend headed for the door, which meant walking through a large group of partygoers (including Ryan). As if by impulse Ryan cuts me off at the pass and asked, ‘would you like to go out with me sometime?’ And there it was — without introduction, he went for it. It turned out not to be the best timing for me so even though I was impressed with his courage I tried to discretely tell him no. Over the next year Ryan tried again, determined to get the answer he was looking for. I finally agreed to meet him at a Toronto Blue Jays game. To this day Ryan attributes his success to advice given to him by a close friend. The advice was ‘wear her down’,” laughs Sarah.

Engagement story: “I became a little suspicious when Ryan planned a romantic dinner for us, but I didn’t really think that he would propose in this way as Ryan doesn’t like to do anything in a typical fashion. Leading up to our date night he was adamant that I be home on time and that I make sure to keep that night free. When I mentioned the date to my sister she suggested that Ryan might propose. When I mentioned my sister’s comment to Ryan he went on and on about how we just bought a house and basically an engagement was not anywhere on his radar. He threw me so far off. January 14th, 2011 we left the house as if it were simply a nice night out for the two of us and arrived at Solé, a gorgeous local restaurant in Waterloo. Ryan was holding it together well and I truly wasn’t expecting a thing. After our appetizers Ryan took his time to get through all of the wonderful things he sees in me and how being together has made him so happy, he looked so lovingly into my eyes in that moment, the second he left me a break to interrupt I blurted out ‘Oh Ryan, you see now that would have made the perfect proposal,’ with that said he stood up, came to my side, got down on his knee, pulled out the ring and asked if I’d marry him. I think I was into a full-on sob before the sentence even left his mouth. The best I could muster was a nod and a smile. Everyone in the restaurant applauded and congratulated us, a lady at the next table happened to have her camera and generously took and sent us photos. A dessert was delivered to our table later that night with “she said yes” written out in chocolate. I was stunned and couldn’t stop starring at the beautiful ring. I still carry around the piece of paper in my purse that Ryan had in his pocket the night we were engaged – he had written out what he wanted to say to me. As soon as I found out he had a ‘cheat sheet’ I snatched it up and knew that I would keep it forever,” says Sarah.