The Proposal

How it all went down

I knew she was remarkable in November of last year. She knew I might eventually call her bluff, but wasn't sure when or how. Though we contemplated eloping in the summer, at the recommendation of friends, we decided that we were going to get married almost a year to the date that we knew we were meant to be.

I planned to make our engagement official at the Golden Bullet Section match during the final ceremonies, but wanted to keep it relatively intimate and not risk the surprise. Now, I’ve spent a bunch of time (decades) with the action range officers within our USPSA section... some have become my closest friends over the years. I figured if she was going to get surprised, I might as well surprise them in the moment.

Only Carl Schmidt (our range master) knew that I was going to ask... I was grateful that he kept it under his hat for two days. On the morning of the proposal, I asked our friend, Dave Bunn, to take a video using my cellphone without explanation. He happily obliged. As Carl finished talking about the match procedures and safety, he mentioned that I had an announcement to make... thankfully, Dave had started recording just before I asked. I took the microphone and made my announcement to Trish, to our 60+ friends, and the world.

REALLY glad she said yes!

- V

From the lady's perspective

As an introvert, it takes a lot of energy to get started in my day, especially if I know I have to interact with people. Golden Bullet was no exception. Though he was trying to rush me out the door, it didn't make sense why Vinny was opening the safe that morning & I never put two and two together. I didn't dwell on it too much: it was 6:15 AM and wanted to get to the car to catch a couple more Zs on the drive to the range.

During the safety briefing, I was trying to find a landing zone to drink my caffeine and eat some egg white bites before the match. Vinny kept ushering me over to the front... admittedly, I was getting a bit annoyed: I didn't want to draw attention to myself or us.

When Carl handed Vince the microphone and mentioned he had an announcement to make, I was worried he was going to say something like he's retiring from the Golden Bullet. It still didn't click when he said, "You've all known me here for a long time..." I thought he was going to reinforce that Manny (our action range chairman) is a fantastic match director & Vince doesn't plan on MDing anymore. It wasn't until he said he said "I have a new special person in my life" that I even had an inclination of what was going on.

Suffice to say, Vince knows how to surprise people! The best part of the proposal for me was off camera: he returned the mic, whispered in my ear, and said "I'm not afraid of commitment." It is the most romantic way someone could say "I love you" while simultaneously calling someone's bluff.

- T

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