She loves her new rock, which of the whole process was the hardest thing for me to decide on. I ended up deciding to get her a custom setting, as I knew her unique tastes didn't fit any of the settings I had looked at. - Ben Ridge's Photo Journal- powered by SmugMug

You heard it right folks, I'm engaged.

After just getting back from New Zealand and then travelling across the US, I took Heather to New York city on the premise of watching the July 4th fireworks and having one last trip before we settled back in Boulder.

Little did she know I was going to pop the question in Central Park! More juicy details in the photos...

Gallery pages: 1 2 >

< 8 of 12 >

Ben Ridge > Heather and I decided to go to New York City way back in February, when tickets were cheap, knowing that we wouldn't be working then and not needing much of an excuse to go see the fireworks for July 4th and to visit my brother Danny and sister-in-law Jess, who live in Brooklyn.

Little did Heather know that I had been slowly planning to ask her to marry me since October of the year before.

Ben Ridge > We spent July 3 eating our way around Chinatown, Little Italy, and the Natural History museum. On July 4th we "decided" to walk around Central Park... all part of my devious plan.

Ben Ridge > Central Park is one of my favorite places in NYC... lots of variety.

Ben Ridge > One of Heather's highlights up that point was riding on the old-time carousel in the park... It made for pretty good photography too.

Ben Ridge > Here's a photo of us just before I proposed, sitting on the edge of the fountain. My hair looks a bit messy to be proposing, but oh well. After taking this photo I kneeled down to put my camera away into my bag. I looked back up with a small box in my hand.

Ben Ridge > Heather was stunned, to say the least. She managed to get out a "uh huh" to my question, but was relatively speechless for the next 30 minutes, which was good because it finally gave me some time to tell her all the things I had been thinking about for the last several months..

Ben Ridge > She loves her new rock, which of the whole process was the hardest thing for me to decide on. I ended up deciding to get her a custom setting, as I knew her unique tastes didn't fit any of the settings I had looked at.

Ben Ridge > Some friendly onlookers asked "did she say yes?" and then offered to take our photo. Notice something new on Heather's finger?

She loves her new rock, which of the whole process was the hardest thing for me to decide on. I ended up deciding to get her a custom setting, as I knew her unique tastes didn't fit any of the settings I had looked at.