Our Engagement Story

Oh my GOD! I don’t even know where to start with this post. If you haven’t heard by now, Tim proposed to me while we visited my family in Toronto. And of course I said YES! I had so many emotions going on during his actual proposal, that I all I could do is alternate between laughter and tears. Grab yourself some popcorn (and maybe a kleenex) because this engagement story is going to be a long one. I don’t want to leave out any details for you guys, so let’s get to it!

I told Tim back in May/June that visiting my Toronto family in July was a huge possibly and I wanted to know if he was down. I asked what his schedule was for July and he said it’s clear. As time passed, we locked in our Toronto dates and booked our flights. Because Tim would be flying from LA and I would be flying from Saskatchewan, we tried to coordinate our flights to land in Toronto at the same time. Little did I know Tim wanted to arrive in Toronto a couple days ahead of me to start his proposal plans. He ended up being in New York the week before I was to arrive in Toronto, so he told me he was just going to fly in from New York.

Leading up to my Toronto trip, Tim asked me what days we would be visiting my family and I reciprocated and asked him if he had any plans of his own for work. He told me his only work plans were for Friday (July 21) and it was a movie premier for a film he shot a few months ago. So, I went ahead and made my plans to have to my makeup done for the event. I locked in my makeup girl (@girl.julia) for Friday (July 21) @ 5:00pm and Tim locked in his barber to do a house call Friday (July 21) @ 2:00pm.

Let’s back track a little bit. Earlier in the week when Tim gave me details about the premier, he mentioned that he would have to leave at 7:00pm to do an intro at the venue. He told me I didn’t have to be there, so I could continue to get ready without rushing. It made sense that he didn’t want to me rush, but it also didn’t make sense to me that he was going to leave, do his intro, come back to the hotel only to pick me up, turn around, and go back to the event. In my mind that was kind of backwards, but I thought, “Meehhh…he’s just being courteous by not rushing me, so I’m just going to take my time!” 

Another thing Tim told me was that when he came back to the hotel, he was going to bring a camera guy (@lastsamureye) to film “behind the scenes” footage that the movie wanted. Then I thought, “Why would the movie want behind the scenes of us getting ready and driving to the event?” It seem irrelevant to me, but I brushed it off, and carried on.

Okay, so fast forward to Friday, July 21. 2:00pm comes and Tim got a fresh cut. 5:00pm comes and I get my makeup done. @girl.julia hooked me up with that dewy-glow and I loooved every second of it, even though I cried it all off about 45 mins later. 7:00pm comes and Tim told me he’s going to go do his intro and he’ll be back to pick me up. I continued to get ready and I got a text from him saying he’s on the way back with the camera guy. Shortly after, they both come up to the hotel room and I quickly finished putting on my heels and off we went! As soon as we stepped out of the hotel room the camera guy started filming. He filmed us as we got into the elevator, walked out of the hotel, again as we got into our uber, and our drive to the venue.

Prepare yourself for this next part.

This is when I really started to piece things together. 

Tim and Chia: Engagement Tim and Chia: Engagement

Tim and Chia: EngagementAs we made our way to the “movie premier” Tim got out his vlog camera and started vlogging, as he normally would. I looked out the window and I started to notice “Ryerson University” flags everywhere. It was at that exact moment that I remembered that Tim and I had our first kiss at Ryerson.

Let’s back track. Yeaaaaars ago (before we were officially a couple) Tim had a gig at Ryerson University. It just so happened that his show was the same weekend that I was going to be in Toronto. We discovered this coincidence when we were exchanging messages on Facebook or maybe it was texting? I can’t quite remember. The conversation went something like this: I asked him, “What are you up to this weekend?” He told me he was going to be in Toronto, and I replied with a, “Oh! Me too!” He invited me to his gig that weekend, and I went. This would’ve been one of the first times Tim and I spent time together in a smaller group of friends. After the show was over, we quickly exchanged a little smoooochie smooooch backstage. AWWWWE!

Okay now fast foward to present time. As we got closer to Ryerson University, I said, “Hey! Ryerson University is where we first kissed!” and Tim casually says, “What? Ryerson? Ohh, yeah I guess we did!” Then I started thinking to myself, “Is the movie premier at Ryerson?” Then I started thinking, “Oh, shit. This would be a perfect set up for a proposal! Hmm…“

I didn’t want to get too worked up about the possibility of Tim proposing, because if it didn’t happen I’d be slightly disappointed. Our uber eventually pulled up to the side of the university and Tim said that we would be let in through the back because there were so many fans at the front. Then I thought, “Isn’t a movie premier all about seeing your fans at the front?” But whatever, I just let it be and I followed his lead. Tim grabbed my hand and he led me through the back door, with the camera guy following me. It was pitch black. I literally could not see where I was stepping, so I walked cautiously. It seemed as though Tim was in a rush and I felt like he was pulling me as if to say, “Hurry up!”

We took a few more (dark) steps and I started to notice that the floor we were walking on had a few x’s marked with white stage tape. It was at this very moment that I realized I was on stage and I had no idea why. All I could think of was, “OH.SHIT. THIS IS IT! HE’S TOTALLY GOING TO PROPOSE!!” Before I could get another thought out, Tim yells,”HELLO?!?!” and a few things happen.

1) Tim’s song, C.H.I.A, dedicated to me starts playing.

2) I see roses and rose petals EVERYWHERE. He later told me he bought 20 dozen roses for the stage.

3) The entire theatre is empty, except for the first two rows that are filled with my family members.

4) My family starts cheering, clapping, recording, taking pictures, etc.

5) Tim gets down on 1 knee with a tiny little box in his hands.

All these things literally happened in a matter of seconds and all I could say was, “I knew it!! I KNEW IT!” I turned to look at Tim and he started saying how much he loveed me and Ryerson was the first place that we kissed and some other things that I can’t remember. To be honest, I totally blacked out and I didn’t hear a WORD he said. I only know what he said because I asked him after (LOL). The only thing I could comprehend and respond to was, “Chia Habte, will you marry me?” And get this…I don’t even remember replying, guys!! I obviously said yes, but I don’t know if I said ,”YES!” or “Yeah” or “HELL YEAH!!” I literally do not remember.  Later Tim said I whispered, “Yes” in between my sobbing breaths. And this was when my makeup went downhill.

After I said yes, Tim stood up, and he handed me the box with the ring in it and I asked, “Aren’t you going to put the ring on me?!?” And he goes, “Oh yeah!!” LOL. He too, was all in the feels that he completely forgot to put the ring on my finger (oops!) My family quickly ran on stage and through tears I gave them all hugs and thanked them so much for being there for that moment. A few of my cousins had my parents on FaceTime on one phone, my brother on another phone, and my aunt and uncle on another phone. Even though my parents and other family members couldn’t be there in person, having them on FaceTime meant so much to me.

Tim and Chia: Engagement

The videographer (@lastsamureye of @samureyefilms) and photographer (@brychong) went around and took footage and photos as I mingled with my family. We all laughed, cried, hugged, and tried to take in everything that had just unfolded. We then all stood together and took a large group photo before I thanked them again for coming and they told Tim and I to go ahead and celebrate the night away! I would see them all again tomorrow at our family BBQ.

After they left, I had a few more tears and tried to get myself together so the photographer could take pictures of me and Tim. Even though I cried and wiped off most of my makeup, I am beyond happy with how the photos turned out. They are absolutely priceless and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Tim and I made our way to the reservations he made at the CN Tower’s 360 degree restaurant. It’s at the top of the CN Tower and it slowly rotates 360 degrees to see Toronto from every angle. I truly didn’t have much of an appetite, but I ordered some food anyways. As we ate, I found myself laughing, crying, and who knows what else. I felt like this was all a crazy dream. THE END.

I’m so grateful that Tim had the most amazing team to capture every moment from that night because (for me) it was a total blur. There are parts that I truly don’t remember and I look forward to watching the finished proposal video, looking at more photos, and watching Tim’s vlogs leading up to the night. You can watch those vlogs here and here.

I cannot thank you enough to everyone who was involved and the amount of love and support we’ve gotten through friends, family, and social media has been overwhelming to say the least. I have to send a million thank you’s to Jean Dousset. The extraordinary jewelry boutique in LA that custom made my STUNNING engagement ring. Our experience with Jean Dousset has been phenomenal and the entire team will have a place in my heart forever! Thank you Jean and Angela for your magical vision for beauty, knowledge, and customer service. A million times, thank you, thank YOU!

I can’t wait to document and carry you all along our journey as Tim and I plan our wedding in the near future! Now there’s a sentence that sounds incredibly surreal (haha!) Stay tuned, lovelies!

Xo,