The Perfect Proposal

by Kira Devitt, Napa Valley Wine Train Marketing It is just a normal Napa Valley Wine Train dinner train heading North to St. Helena. Guests are relaxing and enjoying their wine and conversations now that the dinner plates have been cleared. But one guest in the Vista Dome, is extremely nervous. He fidgets, trying to keep his cool. He looks up at his beautiful girlfriend only briefly before gazing back out the window. Although he wants to savor this moment forever, he knows it is almost time. He reaches into his pocket and feels a little box. He runs his finger along the edge of the box. Any minute now, he thinks. Just then a woman’s voice rings out over the loud speaker. Good evening everyone.” His nervous stomach churns a little...it is time. The voice continues, “One of our Vista Dome passengers would like to sing you a song inspired by one of our other Vista Dome passengers. And since we let our Vista Dome passengers do pretty much whatever they want, here he is.” Everyone in the car starts looking around and mumbling “What’s going on?” “It’s like The Wedding Singer.” A gentleman with a guitar emerges at the other end of the Vista Dome and begins to sing. “I wanna make you smile whenever you’re sad. Carry you around when your arthritis is bad. All I want to do is grow old with you.” The nervous passenger looks at the guitar player and then back towards his girlfriend. She is watching the guitarist and smiling the largest smile he has ever seen. She keeps glancing back at him. He can tell that she knows. He is trying to relax, but the guitarist keeps getting closer. “So let me do the dishes in the kitchen sink. Put you to bed when you’ve had too much to drink. I could be the man who grows old with you.” The guitarist stops right in front of the table with the man and his girlfriend and then steps aside. The man takes a deep breath. He can’t turn back now. This is it. He moves into the aisle and drops down onto one knee. Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out the box that he was fiddling with earlier. He opens it. “Will you marry me?” he asks. She looks at him sweetly, and then looks around all of the other passengers. All of them are holding their breath, staring back, excited to be a part of this intimate moment. “Yes! Of course,” she says. The entire car cheers. The couple kisses. A perfect proposal. This may sound like fiction, but for one English couple, it is their true engagement story. It took pre-planning and some coordination with the Napa Valley Wine Train’s wedding consultant, Diane Fennikoh. Diane and the groom both worked very hard to make the fantasy engagement become a wonderful memory. They first got in contact over email a couple months before the big event. The groom told Diane that his fiance and his favorite movie was The Wedding Singer. Diane re-wrote the in-flight scene from The Wedding Singer so that it would be appropriate for the Vista Dome. She hired a professional singer who sounded like Adam Sandler, and taught him the words to the song. Diane then played the Billy Idol roll -- acting as the announcer on the night of the engagement. Everything went off without a hitch. The couple was so happy about their special moment, they’ve even invited Diane to their wedding.