As told by Mark…

 

We decided to take a trip to Chicago for the 4th of July. At this point I had been holding on to the ring longer than I would have liked trying to plan the perfect proposal. I decided to bring it on the trip in my carry on hoping to find a romantic place to pop the question. I had done some research about the city and came up with a few locations that I thought would be memorable. During our trip we took in the sights: a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, The Willis Tower, and some deep dish pizza at Lou Malnati's. All of them were great, but none of them felt right for this particular moment. After a long day of sightseeing, not to mention strolling around the city with the ring in my pocket all day, we came to the Dearborn Street bridge that crosses the Chicago River.  It was a beautiful night and the city looked incredible from the bridge. I decided that this was the place I would ask Vanessa to be my wife.

I got down on one knee and popped the question.  She was surprised and excited and couldn't stop smiling. She said YES and made me the happiest guy in Chicago!