“Amanda Bianchini and I had only known of one another way back in 1992 while we both were at Long Beach High School for 9th grade. I believe we had choir together, but she moved later that year. Jump forward to the spring of 2008 when we happened to cross paths and decided to get together. After we went out, I had gotten somewhat gun shy and distanced myself from her, even though I truly felt I fell in love with her the first time we were together. A few months had past, and I just happened to call her. The only reason I can explain is that God lead me to her. We got together again in August of that year, and it was definitely love.
We had planned a Disney World vacation for March of 2009. I knew that if I was to make my move, this would be the perfect time because I am a HUGE Disney fan, and what better place for magic to happen than there, right? So I asked her dad, Johnny Himes, if I could marry her. He asked if I was sure. Being the sarcastic person I am, in my mind I was thinking, “I’m asking, aren’t I?” I said “yes”, and he said that he couldn’t think of a better man. Only he and my dad, Melton Broome, knew of what I was going to do.
Growing up, my parents had high standards. I happen to work at Pav & Broome and I grew up around jewelry all of my life. The high standards that were taught to me in life are a reflection of how our business is run. It is who we are and it has taken us a long way.
I try not to settle for anything but the best and knew from some hints what Amanda wanted. Princess cut diamonds and in platinum. Easy enough. I sat down with my dad, looked through the diamonds he had, and found what I wanted. Amanda is not a picky woman, so I went with a Scott Kay platinum solitaire mounting that we had.
We get to Disney World. I hid the ring in my extra pair of shoes so that she never would see it. I had already thought well ahead of time how I wanted this all to go down. I knew we were going to eat in Italy at EPCOT that Wednesday night. So that morning I put the ring box in my shorts pocket. Amanda had accidentally hit it and asked what it was. Quickly I told her it was the camera, and she thought nothing more of it. Those who know me know that I’m not usually the romantic type of guy, but this was the perfect place to do all of this.
After we had dinner, we went out on the pavilion in front of Italy to watch Illuminations (the fireworks show for those of you who aren’t familiar with it). As the smoke from the fireworks had cleared, I got down on one knee. Amanda thought I was giving her a place to sit. At that same moment, I pulled out the ring box from my pocket, opened it up, and asked her to marry me. At first I don’t think she could believe it, but she quickly realized that I was serious, and she quickly accepted. She cried with excitement. I think I was even more excited than she was.
Another couple vacationing there saw what had taken place. They offered to take our picture together, and capture those great moments. That brief moment of her saying “YES!” was one of the greatest in my life and forever will be. Amanda, I love you.”
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