Man makes a necklace for girlfriend, over a year later, he reveals there’s a lot more to it

Amy Tang
By Amy Tang
February 20, 2019Trending
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Man makes a necklace for girlfriend, over a year later, he reveals there’s a lot more to it
A man proposes to a woman in this file photo. (Ben White/Unsplash)

Ever since Anna received a handmade wooden necklace from her boyfriend Terry, she’s been wearing it everywhere. However, unknown to her, the fashion accessory’s real worth was much more than a piece of wood, in terms of both sentimental and monetary value.

For Terry from Australia, the idea of giving a gift that’s not what it seems was not a new one.

“I had always loved the idea of giving someone a gift where they didn’t know its true value until years later,” Terry explained to The Independent.

So when the Australian man wanted to ask Anna to marry him, he attempted at something special.

“After my girlfriend and I had been together for eleven months I decided I wanted to ask her to marry me, but I wanted to do something unique. I also wanted to start doing wood carving and I had this idea for the necklace, so I decided I would give it a go,” said Terry.

When the couple had been together for a year, Terry presented Anna with a handcrafted gift—a Huon pine wood necklace. However, Terry didn’t tell her that the necklace also had a secret compartment.

Anna had no idea she had just been given an engagement ring.

A ring hangs on a necklace.
A ring hangs on a necklace. (Atul Vinayak/Unsplash)

“I gave the necklace to her on our one-year anniversary and she absolutely loved it. She wore it every day and everywhere we went, and pretty much never took it off,” Terry said, the Independent.ie reported.

Just like that, Anna “wore” her engagement ring all the time without knowing for a year and a half. There were a few close calls for the secret to be revealed though.

One time, while visiting a market, a blacksmith loved Anna’s necklace, and Anna loved the blacksmith’s work. Terry thought they were going to trade. Fortunately, they didn’t.

However, the secret faced an even more “dire” situation when the couple was about to fly.

An airplane parks at an airport.
An airplane parks at an airport. (Ken Yam/Unsplash)

“My biggest moment of panic was when we went through airport security the first time. I hadn’t thought about the fact that she might be asked to put it through the X-Ray, which could have very quickly turned into an airport security proposal!” Terry said.

Finally, in November 2016, Terry decided it was time to reveal the secret. Fittingly, Terry picked the Smoo Cave in Northern Scotland.

“I picked Smoo Cave because it was a place we had talked about visiting since we first met, and ‘smoo’ comes from an old Norse word for ‘hiding place,’ so I think I get extra points for that one,” Terry told HuffPost.

Waterfall Cavern of Smoo Cave as seen on Sept 24, 2011.
Waterfall Cavern of Smoo Cave as seen on Sept 24, 2011. (Nick Bramhall/Flickr[CC BY-SA-2.0 (ept.ms/2utDIe9)])
There was a small challenge though—Terry had already “given” Anna the engagement ring, so he had to come up with another clever plan to give Anna the precious object the second time.

Inside the stone cave, Terry asked Anna if he could borrow the necklace for a moment, so he could take photos of the ethnic-looking necklace propped on the rocks. While Anna wasn’t looking, Terry loosened the seal of the necklace a little with a knife.

Then, Terry was ready for the big reveal, which he made sure would be filmed.

“I set up my camera on a timer and ran into the frame for the nice photo of the two of us, then said ‘oh, I’d better give you the necklace back,’ pulled it from my pocket, knelt, and broke it open to reveal the ring inside,” Terry said.

For one moment, Anna just stood, with a “completely confused and dumbfounded look on her face.” When Anna finally realized what had just happened, she said the word.

“Yes!” Anna exclaimed.

However, Anna still hadn’t worked out everything—when she figured out that Terry hadn’t just put a ring in the necklace for a moment, she flipped out.

“Wait, it’s been in there the entire time?! I could have lost it, you [expletive] idiot!” Anna yelled in a “hilarious mix of happy and angry,” as described by Terry.

The engaged couple then began to prepare for their wedding, which they planned to host in their own home in 2019, according to People.com.

A pair of bridal rings.
A pair of bridal rings. (Beatriz Pérez Moya/Unsplash)

“We are hoping to buy a house with land so we can have the wedding at home with our friends and family, in a very relaxed fashion that we think matches us—rather than having a gigantic, glamorous wedding, which isn’t like us at all,” Terry said.

There is a silver lining to this humorous and heartwarming story though.

“Since making the necklace, my wood-working has been getting bigger and better, but the problem I have now is that anything else I give her, she now inspects to see if there could be something hidden inside it,” Terry said.

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