Love on the go: Aruba sunset engagement has lots of surprises

Editor's note: Throughout the month, editor-at-large Shelby Hodge scopes out heartwarming, endearing or just plain funny engagement stories.

Valerie Palmquist and Tracy Dieterich serendipitously met on a ski lift in Beaver Creek last March. Both from Houston, they hit it off and started seeing one another back in H-Town. Less than a month later, they were seriously dating and falling happily, madly, gladly in love.

It was indeed a whirlwind romance that found them making lovers getaways to Santa Fe, back to Beaver Creek, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami and Laguna Beach. In 2010, they also traveled to Greece, Turkey, Bali, Singapore and finally to Aruba.

Valerie spent Christmas with her family in hometown Chicago and Tracy then flew her first class to the Caribbean island of Aruba to join him for a New Year's holiday. As if the couples massages on the beach, the days lolling in the sun and romantic dinners were not enough, on Dec. 31 Tracy hired a 55-foot motor launch, much to Valerie's surprise, for a sunset cruise. The captain popped open the Veuve Cliquot as they boarded and then headed out into the peaceful waters. The couple's favorite music played on the iPod station whlie they danced together on the back deck.

"As the last sunset of 2010 was hitting the horizon," Valerie e-mailed, "Tracy told me there was one more thing he wanted to do before the end of the year . . . and he got down on one knee and proposed."

"It was a special moment and one that both of us will remember forever! Honestly, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world!"

After sharing a few joyous tears and finishing the champagne, they headed back to the resort where Tracy had two more surprises in store. The coffee table was strewn with bridal magazines and he had personalized note cards made for Valerie to use once they are married.

On their way back to Houston, Tracy had yet another thoughtful surprise in store. The airline connection time in New York was tight and he was pretty sure that they would miss their flight to Houston, which in fact they did. The reservation he had made at New York's Babbo restaurant for a special engagement dinner was brilliant. Tracy knew that Valerie had wanted to dine there for more than a decade. After dinner, rather than taking a dingy New York taxi back to the airport, Tracy had arranged for a limousine. The perfect ending for their romantic adventure.

The wedding bells will chime in North Shore Chicago this summer. Then, they will be back in Houston where Valerie is vice president of tenant advisory services for Transwestern and Tracy works as senior vice president of the employee benefits department at Wells Fargo Insurance Services.

If you have a unique engagement story, let us know at shelby@culturemap.com

Don't miss Shelby's other engagement tales:

Put a ring on it: How a San Francisco business trip turned into an engagement party

A slam dunk wedding: Big screen proposal sets stage for first-ever Toyota Center marriage