Rachel & Nathan

How They Met

What an amazing story! They both grew up in a small Detroit suburb, went to the same school and our parents attended the same synagogue, but at different times. Rachel used to babysit for Nathan’s nieces, and at some point his parents moved to Israel and her parents bought their house, but they never met until a few years ago when they were both working for the same company on the other side of the globe from Detroit, in Israel! It wasn’t until last year some time that Nathan asked Rachel out for the first time, and it took him about six tries before she agreed to go out with him. It’s a real story about determination paying off – he didn’t give up and found excuses to stop by her house and even started attending her dance class until she finally agreed to get a beer one night after their swing dance class.

The Proposal

Nathan: Since we picked out the ring together and had talked about getting married in the summer, there were both time constraints and a lack of surprise in the proposal, but I wanted to make sure that the proposal would be special, meaningful, and romantic. I’m an amateur songwriter, and have written songs for Rachel, but wanted to write something loving and personal for this occasion, and for that to be at the heart of the engagement. So the proposal came when the song was ready.

We hear of couples who get engaged from the top of a tower in Jerusalem, which you can imagine has an amazing view, or with one or another kind of gimmick, but that didn’t speak to me. So I didn’t skydive onto her veranda, or send her on a scavenger hunt. I arranged a private dining room at the most elegant restaurant in Jerusalem. The table was set with flowers and candles. We had an extravagant meal and a bottle of our favorite wine. When the waitress came in with the dessert menu, I told her we’d need at least 10 minutes to choose dessert, so that the wait staff wouldn’t hover. I played the song for her, got on one knee, and said what I wanted to say, which is between me and Rachel, presented the ring, and asked her to marry me. She said yes, and there were hugs, kisses, tears. I was relieved, because I was fairly certain that Rachel would say yes, having picked out a ring and bought a dress, and because she’s crazy about me, but I wanted the proposal to move her, and it did.

The Engagement Ring

Rachel: I work for a hi-tech company and am a feminist, but when it comes to style, I prefer things that are old fashioned and antique-y. So we wandered around the diamond district looking for something a bit different and weren’t having a lot of luck. Then we did some research and found out about Leigh Nacht and went right over. We were on vacation in New York and only had a few days during which we wanted to find a ring and a dress so it was pretty tight.

Because it’s a second marriage for both of us, we had both learned the lesson that a ring someone has to wear every day should be something she loves, and we didn’t want to take any chances on Nathan buying it as a surprise (also, Rachel is really really picky). So we went to see Winona together and it was a great experience. After the heckling auctioneer atmosphere on the road below, the calm patient service we got at Leigh Nacht was amazing.

I tried on every ring in the store until we found just what I was looking for, something with a low setting where the diamond blended into the band. I also have ridiculously boney fingers, so it was important to find something that was at once classy and pretty but also dainty so it didn’t look comical on my hand.

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