Throwback Thursday and Wedding Bells! Mike Kokkaliaris surprises his girlfriend Victoria at the Pensacola International Airport with the big question over one year ago.. and she said YES! Follow along as Mike shares his story. A feel very good Throwback Thursday…. My Proposal I was ready to propose to my then girlfriend, Victoria, around springtime 2013. I brainstormed ideas and plans with her lovely sister, Helen, as to when to ask Victoria’s parents for permission, what type of ring to buy, and most importantly: how to propose. Victoria is so special to me and I wanted to ensure that my proposal to her would be just as special and one that she would never forget! At the time, Victoria was telling me that she might be going to Pensacola for a week to participate in a Teachers Conference, Pensacola Christian College Summer Seminar. She works for a Private Christian school and every year, her school sends a few Teachers to the conference for additional training. Since it was her 1st year teaching, she thought for certain that she would be selected to go. So when we saw each other, I would keep asking Victoria about it (in a smooth manner) and she finally told me that she was selected to go. I then decided for certain that I would go to Pensacola to surprise her and propose. The question still remained, how? After much brainstorming, I came up with the idea to propose at Pensacola Airport. I would wait for Victoria in a fancy outfit (one that she bought for me), a home-made banner with “The Question” written on it, and “The Ring.” I put my thoughts to paper and started doing the necessary: booking off vacation days at work, booking my bus, flight, hotel, and car rental. Victoria was scheduled to arrive in Pensacola on the morning of Saturday, July 20th so I had to be there on the Friday night to ensure a smooth proposal. Friday morning my Dad drove me to the bus stop, downtown Toronto. I then took a Greyhound from Toronto to Buffalo. From Buffalo, I took a flight to Atlanta and from Atlanta, a connecting flight to Pensacola. Twelve hours of travelling in total! Saturday, July 20th, I arrived at the airport 15mins early with my outfit, banner, ring, and a fast-pacing heart beating in my chest. Where I was standing in the airport allowed me to look out the window to view arriving flights and look down the hall to see passengers arriving before they pickup their luggage. It was perfect! I then spotted Victoria from a distance and lifted up my banner. As strangers walked by me and read my banner, they pulled to the side and waited to see who the lucky girl was. Victoria then came down the hall and saw my banner, and myself. I got down on one knee, told her how much I loved her, and asked her to marry me. She then said Yes! and the whole airport was clapping for us! It was a special moment, one that Hollywood can’t recreate. Some of the Airport staff came over to congratulated us, along with other spectators. Shortly thereafter in September, as Victoria and I were planning the wedding, I had an idea to email Pensacola Airport and see if they would be willing to share the security video footage of my proposal to show at our wedding. Knowing U.S. Airport security, I knew it was a real “shot in the dark” but I figured I should try anyway. I then found Pensacola’s website, wrote down a few email addresses, and composed an email. I sent an email to the Airport Director, Greg Donovan, and explained what I had done on the 20th of July and asked if somehow it would be possible to get a copy of video footage of the proposal. Not too long after emailing Mr. Donovan, he replied and told me that he would make an exception in my case and provide me the video footage on DVD. He asked me for my address and told me that he would ship the DVD, express, with no cost! A few days later, I received my DVD from Pensacola airport with a Congratulatory letter from Mr. Donovan on my engagement. Honeymoon Plans Victoria and I got married on, July 20th, 2014. One year after “The Proposal”. A few days later we left for our Honeymoon in Montego Bay Jamaica, where we spent 10 days at Sandals Royal Carribean. Our plane had screens mounted in the back of the headrests and we could see where the plane was in real-time on the map. When we saw that we were crossing Florida, we both smiled and giggled, and reminisced about our engagement and time in Pensacola together, almost 1 year ago. To watch the video please click here-->https://facebook/video.php?v=10152348840242584&set=vb.95840712583&type=2&theater
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 21:55:49 +0000
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