It was Wednesday, 24 September 2014 when I received a message from Pavel to enlist my help in planning a marriage proposal in Rome. Simple, sober, meaningful and intimate ….. these were the words to describe his stunning proposal idea to his girlfriend Joanna.
The plan was as follows:
Friday, 5 Dec – Arrival to Rome and in some way advise Joanna about the overbooking in the hotel she had already booked herself. The overbooking was only an excuse to get the privilege room and make Joanna think it was a free upgrade.
Saturday, 6 Dec – A private car service to pick up Pavel and Joanna from the hotel and drive them to a restaurant, then 3 bars and back to the hotel where Pavel wanted to propose privately. What was fundamental to Pavel? Well, he wanted to listen to particular songs in the restaurant, in the private car and during after dinner drinks (at the 3 bars). And finally, flower decoration and candles in the hotel room.
As soon as I got in touch with Pavel, we began planning. I searched for the perfect spots to set up everything. As a restaurant I chose Al Cantuccio da Carla e Mirella not only because it was located close to the hotel but more importantly because it was ideal for such a romantic and special evening. We decided to reserve ‘il grottino’ exclusively for Pavel and Joanna so they could listen to the songs in peace and enjoy dinner in a very pleasant atmosphere. We arranged for a kind of fixed menu and the cost prior so Pavel didn’t have to worry about paying the bill in front of Joanna.
Next step was to choose 3 bars for an after dinner drink. Pavel’s desire was for the first bar to be super fancy and luxurious and listen to two songs while having a drink, then onto two more bars whilst maintaining the quality of the first bar where they could again listen to the songs while enjoying their drink. My first choice was the Legendary Harry’s, located in via Veneto featured in “La Dolce Vita”. Other two were Trimani Wine Bar and Enoteca Spiriti located in piazza di Pietra right in front of the Hadrian Temple. Amazing view!
Nicola (their private driver) had to be informed as well. I met Nicola ahead of time in order to go through the details of the itinerary of all movements he had to have under control. His part was to drive Pavel and Joanna to all the locations and be ready in front of the restaurant and the bars as soon as they were ready. To do so, I provided a cell phone to Nicola who passed it to Pavel so they could communicate.
All this had to happen in a very normal way so that Joanna wouldn’t suspect anything.
Finally, the moment arrived. Pavel told Joanna he booked a restaurant for the Saturday night so they both got ready to leave the hotel by 7:45pm. Nicola was already waiting outside with his super comfortable limousine car. They got into the car and drove to the restaurant. They had a delicious dinner with the background music and as planned they finished by 9:30pm to reach the bars.
Pavel & Joanna having dinner inside of the ‘grottino’
I was already sitting in the Legendary Harry’s when they arrived. Mr. Pasquale, the manager, had greeted the couple and let them sit down near the pianist. They ordered drinks and I gave a sign to Mr. Pasquale to go with the music.
awaiting for my clients at the Legendary Harry’s
Pavel & Joanna inside of the Legendary Harry’s
Once the music ended I drove to Trimani to get ready with the songs. According to our timeline, I knew I had more less 20 minutes to get all set. I was always in touch with Nicola so I knew exactly when Pavel and Joanna would arrive in Trimani. When they arrived they did the same, sat down at the reserved table and had their drink while listening to the songs we prepared for this special occasion.
me at the Trimani Wine Bar
As soon as I was done with the music and drove to the last bar, Enoteca Spiriti. Again, I waited for the Nicola’s signal when they would arrive at the piazza di Pietra. I entered the Enoteca, handled over the USB drive (where I downloaded the songs) to the bar staff and sat down. On Pavel and Joanna’s arrival in Enoteca, we proceeded as planned. They had a drink and listened to the same two songs. As soon as the songs finished I had my last task to complete – hotel room decoration. While Joanna and Pavel were drinking in Enoteca Spiriti I drove quickly to the hotel and grabbed all I needed for decoration – the bouquet of roses, 4 delicious cakes, 20 roses (I needed the petals) and 32 candles from the hotel reception staff (I left all this in the hotel while they had dinner). The hotel barmaid and I ran up into the room and decorated it with candles and sprinkled rose petals all over the bed and floor and left the bouquet of roses and cakes on the small round table. Closed the room so that when they would arrive they would find all perfect and r.o.m.a.n.t.i.c.
hotel room decoration
… and so they did. Actually, Joanna did! Pavel proposed and she said: YES!
Last but not least, my heartfelt thanks go to:
- the reception staff at the hotel Mercure Corso Trieste
- Carla, Mirella and Alessandro at the restaurant Al Cantuccio da Carla e Mirella dal 1936 (via Tripoli, 71)
- Sig.ra Barbara e Sig. Pasquale at the Legendary Harry’s Bar (via Veneto, 150)
- Sig.ra Carla at the Trimani Wine bar (via Cernaia, 37/b)
- Sig. Giuseppe e Umberto at the Enoteca Spiriti (piazza di Pietra, 32/33)
- Marco and Nicola, the private car drivers
for the collaboration and for being so wonderful to make all this happen.
me with the hotel staff
me with Carla (the restaurant owner)
And what makes me really happy at the end? Reading such messages:
