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April thought she was planning a big surprise party for Jeremy's 27th birthday and recent graduation. The guests thought they were in on a surprise for Jeremy. What nobody knew, was that Jeremy had planned the whole thing himself with the help of some family and close friends. Jeremy's Big Surprise was actually on everyone else. Enjoy!
View the video by clicking play on the module above. You can also check out the still photos from the night in the slideshow below or click on the Polaroids to see larger versions of the images at our Picasa Web.
Click the next graphic to the right to see the original menu for Jeremy's Big Surprise. Guests were able to pick from this prix fixe menu at the Cafe Del Rey Marina in Marina Del Rey, Calif. Click on the third graphic to see the evite invitation that April sent out to get everyone to come to the party and to see Jeremy's speech to April's parents the night he asked for their permission to marry her, click on the little document on the right.
Just for those who really want to know how it all went down, here's a chronological breakdown of the events leading up to the hatching of this engagement surprise:
Thursday, April 5
Jeremy goes to dinner with his friend Olivia at one of his favorite restaurants, Bossa Nova on Sunset Blvd. Over dinner, he shares about a proposal story that he had heard about from a friend. Olivia couldn't help but ask how Jeremy was planning to propose to April himself. Some might have thought of that as a strange question but Jeremy and April more or less had known that they wanted to marry each other for some time. Jeremy had several ideas on how to spring the proposal on April but had never thought any of them out clearly enough. Some of those included proposing at their anniversary spot, the Castaway in Burbank, Calif. where he would somehow lure the rest of her family so that they could be in attendance. Another idea included getting April's favorite band/group, Rockapella, to come and serenade her at her birthday as a surprise and then pop the question then. Still, nothing stuck.
Although Jeremy had thoughts about proposing in 2007, April thought Jeremy wanted to wait a couple of years after getting done with school before they actually got married. What April didn't know was that Jeremy had first mentioned his decision to get engaged back in December of 2006 when he and his friend Sean were talking in Las Vegas. Sean got engaged in January so Jeremy decided he would wait for one of his other four special dates to propose: February 14 (Valentine's Day), March 5 (Six-Year Anniversary), April 13 (April's Birthday) or May 11 (USC's Commencement). The dates came and went and with April's birthday coming right up, he knew that May would be the soonest he could put something together.
Friday, April 6
After work, Jeremy decides to go join April at a Good Friday service that she was attending. If you know Jeremy, you know that although he doesn't like to talk on the phone much, when he's in the car, he often makes his phone calls. This time, he calls his good friend Stephen. Stephen once said in passing that whenever Jeremy was ready to propose, he would love to help. Jeremy brought that up with Steve and after the congratulatory words, the two begin to plan how they might turn the proposal into a memorable moment. Nothing concrete was set about how things would happen but Jeremy knew he wanted to propose on his birthday and that if Steve were to come to LA from Northern California, they could use that as the premise on which to trick April into planning a surprise party for Jeremy. Steve would get in touch with April and tell her that he was coming to LA for the weekend of Jeremy's birthday and wanted to throw a surprise party for him but now, how would they pull that off?
Friday, April 13
Jeremy and April go to his graduate formal at the California Science Center Annenberg Hall. They had talked about using the hall as a wedding reception site so they used the night as a chance to scope it out. Even then, Jeremy never let on that there was any possibility of him proposing before graduation.
Monday, April 16
Stephen sets things in motion by contacting April via AIM to chat with her about his trip to LA coinciding with Jeremy's birthday weekend. He tells her they should plan a surprise party but April isn't having it since she has planned two other surprises for him before. Nonetheless, she asks Jeremy what he'd like to do for his birthday later that night. Knowing full well what is going on, Jeremy tells her that he would rather spend his birthday doing something low-key. They decide that they'll celebrate with a small dinner including Jeremy's brother and sister, Nat and Jo.
Tuesday, April 24
Jeremy runs into a roadblock in the planning when he learns that a friend of his is planning her birthday party on the night of his birthday. After talking to Steve and his good friend David about it, they decide that Dave should approach said friend to see if she will move her birthday party to another night. Luckily, she was willing and moved her party to the 18th. With the urgency building, Steve gets April to send out an invitation to Jeremy's surprise birthday and graduation dinner as soon as possible. You can see a copy of the evite that she sent out by clicking the link above.
Thursday, April 26
Jeremy finds out that April is planning for his birthday party to be at Gordon Biersch in Pasadena, Calif. so he encourages Steve to take control of the planning of the party itself but to let April handle inviting everyone. One of the first things Jeremy does is let Steve know who he would like to invite including all of the family and all of their close friends. Steve didn't have a hard time convincing April that the event had to be a huge extravaganza so she invited everyone Jeremy suggested (via Steve) quite easily.
Monday, April 30
Steve decides that the party will be held at Cafe Del Rey Marina in Marina Del Rey, Calif. After debating things with Jeremy, who was pushing for the Castaway (Steve thought it would be too obvious), Steve books the larger part of the Cafe Del Rey for fourty-some people. Jeremy receives regular e-mail updates from Steve with PDF versions of the evite and soon begins receiving menu choices from Steve for what to have at the dinner. Jeremy makes his suggestions to Steve, who in turn suggests those to April. The plan is now set: to have the initial dessert come out at dinner, followed by a special platter on which the ring will be placed. That way, everyone in attendance including April will be surprised by the proposal.
Tuesday, May 1
Jeremy makes his first trip to the Los Angeles Jewelry District to shop for a diamond and a ring on his own. He knew what April liked because he had been to retail stores in malls and looked at rings with her before. His first trip was intimidating but he knew what he wanted and had done enough research to know that one trip was not enough. He would be back.
Jeremy tells his parents about his plans to propose on his birthday.
Wednesday, May 9
April confirms the final reservations at the restaurant with Steve and goes over some final plans for the big day. Steve reports that April is ecstatic because she thinks Jeremy knows nothing. April enlists the help of James, who tells all of Jeremy's friends to be mysteriously busy on the day of his birthday so as to not tip him off to any possible surprise. Jeremy pretends to be sad that his friends are all too busy for him as an act to April.
Friday, May 11
Jeremy graduates from USC with an Master of the Arts in Communication Management in the morning and the family has dinner together at night to celebrate.
Saturday, May 12
Jeremy heads to Sacramento, Calif. in the early morning hours with his friends Elson and Eric for the Pac-10 Rowing Championships. During their free time, they head to the Folsom Outlets to do some shopping. Jeremy looks at engagement rings at the Zales store but then decides to talk to Elson and Eric's aunt about getting a ring through her. They ask him when he's planning on proposing so Jeremy says "I don't know... my birthday maybe" but Elson slips and says "Aren't you going to dinner for your birthday?" worried that Jeremy will have his plans skewed because of the surprise he supposedly doesn't know about. Jeremy lets him off the hook by just brushing his comments off even though he knows what Elson is thinking.
Monday, May 14
Jeremy makes his third trip to the Jewelry district but doesn't purchase his ring yet. At night, after attending the USC women's rowing team banquet, Jeremy heads to Elson and Eric's aunts house in Montebello, Calif. to look at diamonds and ring settings. April calls him that night but he has to pretend that his phone was not working to avoid talking to her during his secret trip.
Tuesday, May 15
Jeremy flies to Oakland, Calif. for his interview with the Pac-10 Conference offices. While he is in the airport, April calls and asks him what dessert she should get when she goes out to lunch that day. She gives him several choices and he fervently chooses the fruit tart. Little did Jeremy know that that would be the dessert at the surprise dinner.
Wednesday, May 16
Jeremy drops his car off at the mechanic so he enlists the help of his sister Joanna. Jer and Jo spend the entire morning and afternoon at the Jewelry District. After re-visiting many of the dealers he saw last time, Jeremy sits in Pershing Square while his sister reads the paper and he decides that he can get the perfect ring and diamond through Elson and Eric's aunt. He calls her immediately and makes plans to meet her the next morning.
Thursday, May 17
Jeremy heads to the jewelry store in the morning to witness the mounting of the diamond and to pick up the ring. On his way to USC for work, he calls his friend Vince to ask for his help in translating a speech he has written to April's parents in order to ask them for their permission to marry April. Vince translates the entire speech via AIM messages and Jeremy begins to practice speaking in tagalog that afternoon. He reads the speech 20 times in tagalog before he drives to Cerritos, Calif. to walk in unannounced on April's parents.
The Lacabas are entertaining one of April's relatives from out of town that week so Jeremy wasn't sure whether anybody would be home. With his heart beating a hundred miles an hour, he knocks on the door but no one answers. He decides to go to the mall and get some Chick-Fil-A as his nervousness continues to stew. He heads back to the Lacaba house with the ring in his pocket and speech in hand. This time, he knocks and the door opens. April's dad asks where April is, to which Jeremy responds "Oh, it's just me this time!"
After spending a day at Universal Studios, the parents are tired and hungry so they tell Jeremy they are going to eat, offering him food. He's too nervous to eat but he tells them that he has something to talk to them about so he sits in the living room watching the Chicago Bulls game while the parents finish their meal. When they are done, they come over and Jeremy begins his speech. You can see a copy of the speech by clicking the furthest link to the right up top. After he gets two lines into the speech, April's dad decides to turn off the TV. After making it successfully through the speech, Jeremy looks up to smiling faces and hugs the Lacabas. He mentions to them that they need to tell April that they would all of a sudden like to attend Jeremy's birthday dinner on Saturday.
Friday, May 18
With the permission of April's parents secured and the ring on hand, Jeremy spends a nerve-free evening with April at one of their favorite restaurants, Granville Cafe in Burbank, Calif.
Saturday, May 19
April and Pauline take Jeremy out to birthday breakfast at Square One in Hollywood, Calif. During breakfast, Pauline mentions that she has plans for the evening and wishes Jeremy and April a wonderful time at their private dinner. After breakfast, the three get Thai massages to relax - April's birthday gift to Jeremy. On the way home from the massage, Jeremy turns to April in the car and says "Will you marry me?" April responds by saying "Yes. Someday." Jeremy playfully retorts by asking why she wouldn't take him seriously to which she says "Because this isn't a Jeremy proposal". Surprised, Jeremy asks, "Really? What is a Jeremy type proposal then?" but all April can say is "I'll know when it happens." Satisfied with his work, Jeremy takes April home to get ready for dinner.
Jeremy heads over to April's apartment to pick her up for the night ahead. Even though they're supposedly meeting his brother and sister for dinner, even as April calls Jeremy, they are at home with him. The rest of the family gets dressed and heads over the Marina Del Rey. Jeremy gives the ring to Nat to hand off to Stephen at the restaurant. Jeremy and April are late for their meeting with Nat and Jo but April set that up to give her cousins more time to arrive at the restaurant.
Jeremy and April arrive at the Cafe Del Rey Marina and are greeted by Nat with video camera in hand and the rest is history.
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