Getting Hitched

I am now engaged. My boyfriend Greg asked me to marry him on a hill looking out to the Kintamani mountain in Bali on boxing day.

I think this story is more interesting to be told on his perspective since he did all the work, all I did was wait. I knew he’s going to ask me, but I didn’t know when he’s going to do it or how. He asked my parents permission to marry him on the 24th. It was a bit strange for my parents because back in their day, they didn’t have to get engaged to get married. So when Greg asked my parents permission, my dad thinks that Greg is talking about the wedding,

“When are you thinking of having it?”
“I don’t know, maybe tonight, tomorrow, or the next day.” – so I guess with that sort of answer my dad had figured that he’s talking about something else other than the wedding.
And my mum… hehe… my mum…. She didn’t say anything, but as Greg about to leave the room she said, “Fionna, Fionna, Fionna… Fionna needs to exercise more”- as in... to get fit and skinny for the wedding day.
Anyway, they get it in the end and gave him the permission.

Greg doesn’t have a clue of where he’s going to be for the proposal and because of that his proposal plan is relying on the Christmas present he’s going to give me. The plan is that, I’ll open the present with the question inside it, and when I look back at him he’ll be on his knee with the ring. Rough plan but Ok, it’s good enough for Greg.

The 24th of December arrived, and where are we? We are in my parent’s friend’s Villa in a place called Penyabangan half an hour away from Ubud… practically in the middle of nowhere. Greg’s challenge is to find a nice place to go to in order to give me his ‘Christmas present’. The Villa is an amazing building that looks out to an amazing view of valleys and mountains, but Greg didn’t want to propose in front of everyone so he still need to find a nice place to open the present.

I got sick on Christmas day so I just stayed in bed with a book. I was wondering why Greg kept bugging me, “Let’s go out somewhere, let’s go, let’s go!”. We finally did, but it was already dark by the time we went.

So boxing day is Greg’s last shot, I mean… I haven’t got my Christmas present yet! I was suffering a bit of a Bali belly so I was reluctant to get out, and Greg is stressing out that my illness may well ruin his plan.

We were on our way out to explore the surrounding area with the rental motorbike. We planned together to bring our Christmas presents with us to open. On the way out, I was shaking his present and asked, “Is my ring in there?”
He just said a straight, “No!”
“Oh good… cause if it is I’ll get a bit nervous!”

We started driving South. We drove and drove and found nothing (except that deer in the middle of the road there). At one point I asked again, “Can I open my present now?” Greg was reluctant because the view was not good enough so I let him put it off again. My stomach was feeling bad a couple of times and I kept on asking him if we can drive back home and open the present there. We almost did, but suddenly I felt better and so we started driving up north. We knew that Kintamani mountain is only 20minutes up North, plus we have a map, so we’re safe to go.

Sure enough, we got up there and the view was AMAZING…!!! Though, you know… it’s Bali, so there’s no way we can stop and park at somewhere descent without being approached by people trying to sell us stuff, so we stopped at the side of the road.

Anywaaay… present time…!!!

Looking out at the amazing view of the volcano and the lake in front of us, I opened my present. It was a box, and inside it sits a stem of red rose made out of origami. On the petal of the rose, it said, “Fionna, will you marry me?”. It even has the Indonesian version on the other side saying, “Apa kamu mau menikah dengan saya?”


I was so surprised that I started jumping around and make stupid girly noises like I always do when I get excited. And Greg, who was so keen to see my reaction got distracted and just stared at me that when I looked at him, he’s just still sitting there on the motorbike. I wasn’t 100% sure if that was ‘it’ cause he's just sitting there looking at me. So I said, “Is this it?” He just nodd at me with the maddest smile and I was like, “Where’s the ring?” “Oh, it’s in my pocket!” He got the ring out and it was a single diamond in a simple solitaire white gold band. Of course I love it! I never dreamed of owning a diamond ring, and the thought of being married to Greg is just so HUGE it’s overwhelming, but we’re both are very happy and excited.


Though… ppl still manage to try selling us ‘stuff’ while we’re there, they were like, “honeymoon artwork, this is story of Rama and Sinta… bla, bla, bla…” over and over again. I got so mad I yelled at one guy, “Oh my god! Will you leave us aloooone…!!!” and that scared him off completely.

Driving back down the hill, Greg told me about how he got the ring and how he made the rose, I was very impressed with his work and initiative. He said that the ring was the most expensive thing that he ever bought in his life, and it’s worth it! Oh man, I feel SO loved it's almost unreal! =)

Arriving at the villa, I ran to my parents and told them, “I’m engaged!”. They don’t really know what’s going on, but they were very happy nevertheless. My dad gave me a really big hug and he was like, “So… where’s Greg ring? Are you going to give him one too?”
“No dad, they guy gets the ring for the engagement, and the girl just has to wait… patiently!” =)