Love at First Sight

Amy and Josh met on June 4, 2006 at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, TX. The Paramount's Holy Ghost Party was soulful night of gospel that had the entire theatre jumping up and down and clapping their hands.

Alan Luecke and Sharon Francia had been trying to arrange a blind date for a while and Alan had reserved the stage-right box seats for the a bunch of us. I brought Bijoy Goswami along but there was some (intentional?) musical chairs going on that night - when Amy got up to go to the bathroom she came back to find Alan sitting in her seat and the seat next to Josh's open. How convenient!

Amy still denies it, but it was pretty obvious to everyone else that she was hitting on him right from the start.

Josh and Bijoy left before the show was over to go to another party, but not before texting Amy a "howdy" message so they could keep in touch.

A near miss

Josh sat behind Amy 2 weeks before at the Paramount's 90th Birthday Gala but all he saw was the back of her head so that doesn't really count. Highlights from that show included Pinetop Perkins, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and our first glimpse of Sahara Smith. Glad we got a second chance!

 On May 21, 2006, at 9:26 AM, Alan Luecke wrote:

Josh, glad you were able to make it!  Sorry we didn't catch up after the show, I wanted to introduce you to Amy Vail - she works at Dell & is looking for a new boyfriend and a new job - you might be able to help out on one or the other - we'll try again...

The first date

The first date was a Maceo Parker show at Antones. Josh picked Amy up in the silver 993 and drove downtown to park at his office in the Omni. First they had dinner at Louie's 106 and then drove over to Momos to catch a bit of Wendy Colonna's performance. Then we met Heathe Bryan and Susan Craft (also now engaged) at Antones where we had a small table on the VIP balcony with a great view and a constant supply of champagne.

Gary Clark, Jr opened it up and he was fantastic. Then Maceo brought out his saxophone and the place really started bumping. Josh must have been nervous because he had to run to the bathroom sick in the middle of the show - but somehow he pulled this off without Amy or anyone else noticing.

Josh dropped Amy off at home that night but did get to come in for just a minute to meet Piper and Scout.

I love it when a good plan comes together

Josh was planning on proposing the last day of their trip to Mexico the following weekend, but the morning that he got the ring he knew it would drive him crazy to hide it any longer than necessary. About 10am he realized that it was exactly the 11 month anniversary of when they had met at the Paramount Theatre - and they had tickets to see STOMP at the same theatre that evening.

After an email and a few phone calls, Josh got in touch with Ken Stein, the executive director of the Paramount, explained their story and that he was intending to propose that evening. Ken helped to come up with the plan of altering the Marquee in the middle of the show so that Amy would see a special message when we came out. The Paramount staff were very touched by the story and some were brought to tears!

Josh borrowed a video camera from Ivor and Abigail Clarke and got Bijoy Goswami to wait outside the Paramount theatre at 9:30pm so that he could film us exiting the building and the proposal. Joleen Sanborn picked up a dozen red rozes and some champagne and gave them to Josh's cousin Evan Alter to bring along with a still camera.

Amy set up the dinner reservations and on her own just happened to pick Louie's 106 (not that much of a surprise since its a place they frequent often) which happens to be where we had our first date. They had an amazing meal and somehow Amy didn't notice that Josh was a bit distant or distracted. Amy spent most of the time staring across the table into Josh's eyes and telling him how much she loved him. The whole time Josh was wondering, "Is she on to my plan?"

At the beginning of the show, Ken Stein told the story of Mike and Betsy Cogburn who met at the Paramount in the 60's and are now happily married and continue to support the Paramount. He concluded that Mike and Betsy had left a "special message" for everyone on the Marquee during the show and to be sure to look up when they left. Josh and Amy arrived just before the actual performance started and missed Ken's announcement - probably good because Josh was afraid it might tip Amy off. However, this insured that there was a good size crowd waiting for us when we left at the end of the show!

About halfway through, Josh pretended to go to the bathroom so he could check on the Marquee and any last minute details. The sign was all set and Ken Stein was in the lobby with his daughter so Josh was able to thank him and confirm that everything was on track. Josh texted some final instructions to Bijoy and Evan and make sure they were in position.

As they left the theatre, Josh made sure to suggest that they both use the restroom (to help the crowd thin out a bit and make sure Bijoy and Evan were ready for them). The line for the women's room was long to begin with, and Amy took a few minutes extra because she got into a conversation with another lady about the Cirque Du Soleil show "Love" in Las Vegas.

As they exited the theatre, Josh led Amy straight out into the street and fortunately it happened so fast that she didn't really have time to question it. Then Josh pointed up at the Marquee and as soon as Amy saw it she burst into tears of joy.

Somehow Josh pulled it off without Amy ever getting a hint until she saw the Marquee!

The Proposal

After Amy saw the words, "AMY WILL YOU MARRY ME?" on the Paramount Marquee, Josh got down on one knee and presented the ring with the following words,

"11 months ago today we met here at the Paramount, and every day since then you have been my best friend and the love of my life. And with this ring I ask you, Amy Susanne Vail, to be my wife."

Click the play button below to see it for yourself!

Special thanks

Special thanks to Ken Stein from the Paramount, Bijoy Goswami and Evan Alter for operating the cameras, Joleen Sanborn for helping to plan everything out, Shawna Baker from Tiffany's. And of course to Alan Luecke and Sharon Francia for introducing us!

And of course we must thank our parents and family for being so supportive. We only wish that Amy's dad Bob could have been with us to share this special occasion. He is in our hearts.