So how did you two first meet? What was your first impression?
Carlene: Sonny and I first met online back in the Summer 2002. We meet in an Art + Design chat room. Nothing really sparked in our first meeting. We probably chatted for about an hour, in that hour he told me that he was a freelance graphic designer from Toronto. I thought he was a pretty nice guy and hoped I would run into him again online. After that first chat I already knew he was interested in me because he seemed little disappointed when I told him I already had a boyfriend and wasn't really looking. The day I broke up with my then boyfriend I knew Sonny wasn't too sad for me....he quickly made his move!

Sonny: This is a tricky question because we met for the 1st time, twice! Our first encounter was online in a Yahoo Chat room for graphic designers. I was in there chattin' up a storm with the regulars when I noticed a name I didn't’t recognize before “carleneisnice”. For some reason I immediately gravitated toward her and decided to engage her in intellectual conversation about graphic design so obviously I said “Can I view your cam?” to which she responded “What? No, I don’t even know you. What’s your name?” Needless to say I recovered from that smooth line and we became good friends online which eventually led me to visit her for the 1st time again but this time in person.

My first impression of her when I saw her on the web cam was “DAMN she’s beautiful!” and my second first impression when I saw her in person for the first time was “Wow, she’s soooo pretty and I love the hair!”. She had crimped her hair to look all amazonish and hot!


When was your first date?
Carlene: I would consider our first date being the first day of his first trip to California. I picked him up from the airport and took him to the closest place I could think of which was Rain Forest Cafe! Our first date was really really awkward but it was still exciting to meet see him in person!

Sonny: Ah yes our first date. This was when I first flew to California from Toronto to meet Carlene. From the airport she took me to this mall called Ontario Mills. We walked around for a bit, talked about how trippy it was to finally see each other in person and I kept thinking she’s soooo beautiful I hope I don’t say anything to mess this up. We got hungry and we ate at Rainforest Café. I remember it well because we were seated next to the anima-tronic elephant which did its elephant call every 5 minutes but it was all good because I was enjoying Carlene’s company so much so I began to tune out the jungle sounds and soak up every second of our first date together.



First kiss?
Carlene: Our first kiss... well I think it was probably on the second day of his first trip to California. We were watching a movie at my house and he got up to go to the restroom and when he got up for some reason he turned to mr and he kissed me on the lips. I was so surprised!!

Sonny: This was an out of no where kiss, I didn't’t even know it was going to happen. But as I recall we were at her house watching Ice Age. So yeah, we were watching Ice Age when I had to get up and use the bathroom and as I got up I told her I’d be right back. She was sitting on the couch looking at me and out of nowhere I leaned in with a quick peck on the lips and that my friends was our first kiss.



So let's talk about the ring.
Carlene: It is perfect. Sonny really did his homework when it came to designing the ring.. I had no idea Sonny spent so much time in planning to create a ring just for me! It will truly be a beautiful heirloom that will be passed hand down from generation to generation.

Sonny: After years of taking mental notes of every “oh, baby look at this ring!” and “omg, I love the way this looks” I had a good idea of what she liked so I decided I’m not gonna just look through a display window and choose one that closely resembles what I think Carlene would love, I decided I would draw it out.  When it was time I took my drawing to Black Starr & Frost, a jeweler at South Coast Plaza and what they produced was even more beautiful than I ever imagined. I actually got watery-eyed when I saw the ring for the 1st time.



What type of wedding are you envisioning?
Carlene: A pretty awesome one!! I am already excited to hear how many people are willing to travel just for us! Sonny and I are so honored to share our beautiful day with all our friends and family. Our happiness not only comes from being with each other, but from being able to surround ourselves with loving people. The countdown has begun and I can't believe the day is fastly approaching!

Sonny: I envision a lot of happy faces, laughter, drinks, great food, awesome company and my beautiful bride by my side sharing every moment of this day with me and all of our loved ones.



What are The Honeymoon Plans?
Carlene: Well after planning and thinking about this I think Sonny and I are going to book a trip to Orlando Florida! We both are very active people... but after planning this wedding we just want the good times to come to us EASY. BOOK HOTEL.. NEAR THEME PARKS... DONE! :D

Sonny: I don't really care where we go just as long as we are going someone fun! We'll be together and being around Carlene's infectious personality guarantees an adventure!

Continued next column >

Tell us about the proposal..

Carlene: It was a total surprise and I had no idea what was going on the entire time. Sonny had asked me weeks before if I had plans on the evening of Jan. 13th and if I didn't I had to keep it free. He had made dinner arrangements with good friends of ours, Mark and Linda Macias, whom we both have worked with. Sonny had everything last detailed planned. He told me we had dinner reservation and that we had to be there on time because the Mark and Linda would be waiting for us. On the way there Sonny received a "call" from Mark saying that Linda was running late and that we should go ahead and order drinks while we were waiting.

As we get closer to the restaurant I tell Sonny since they are running late we should walk around Downtown Disney to kill time. This suggestion doesn't sit too well with Sonny and he insist we need to stick to the plan and wait. I thought he was acting strange but didn't think much about it. When we get to Napa Rose our hostess guides us to the bar to wait. In the meantime, Sonny was acting even more strange. I thought that he was perhaps just hungry because he tends to get irritable when he doesn't eat on time.

Finally our hostess comes to get us and lets us know that Mark is still running late and that she'll seat us anyway so we didn't have to wait at the bar any longer. As I walk into the main area of the restaurant I notice that the hostess is taking us towards an area of the restaurant that feels more like a private room. She leads us into this room that had a table set for 10 people and explains that since Mark is late she had to rearrange some of the tables to accommodate us and this was the only thing available. I felt a bit bad to claim such a large table when it was just going to be the 4 of us dining but Sonny said it was fine and just to take a seat so we can order drinks. As I look over the menu Sonny begins to talk to me about how happy he is that we got to go out and then starts to explain that this outing was just for the two of us. He tells me that Mark and Linda would not be joining us but used the idea of them coming along to get me out of the house. I was totally surprised and told him that I was he did a great job fooling me! I keep telling him that I felt even worse now that its just the 2 of us occupying such a large table. I was imaging a large party coming into the restaurant having to swish into a smaller table and looking over to us with evil thoughts!


After a few moments of enjoying the well received surprise, I began to look back at the menu. While I was reading Sonny again begins to talk to me only this time there is a bit of nervousness and concern in his voice. I look up a bit alarmed as he began to get on his knees with a large black box in his hand. I kept thinking.."What is he doing?! What the hell is he doing!". As I begin to cry I notice some commotion in the main area of the restaurant and see my sister Nicole running towards us. Then I see my Mom... and then my Dad... then I realize my family and friends are all here!! With lights flashing and the sounds of happiness around us.... Sonny looks to me and says "will you marry me Carlene" and of course I looked at him with tears in my eyes and softly whispered "Yes!".

Sonny: Let me start off by saying Carlene is very very very hard to surprise. She basically knows everything, like she has an all seeing eye or something, so needless to say this was going to pose quite the challenge. The problem was how I was going to get Carlene someplace without her having any idea of a proposal.

It helps that we have been going out for over 4 yrs and the idea of marriage had been like an open dialogue between the two of us. We openly talked about getting married, we knew we were going to get married it was just a matter of when and in our fourth year of being together I had her convinced I wouldn't propose for another few months. But I have been planning this since before Christmas of 2006. I wanted the engagement to be shared with family and close friends because I felt like this was a huge moment in both our lives and I wanted her to be surrounded by loved ones.