This Couple Just Went on Their First Fancy Date Ever — and It Was Adorable
It’s a really special thing to be able to dress up and go out on the town with your boo.
But because of the cost, it’s just not in the realm of possibility for many people.
One such person? Cassie from Georgia.
She entered our Purple Friday giveaway — in which we encouraged people to spend time, not money — with a story that won our hearts.
Here are all the adorable details…
This Couple Just Went on Their First Fancy Date Ever
To celebrate Purple Friday, our new holiday on the day after Thanksgiving, Cassie asked for a restaurant gift certificate so she could go on a “fancy date” with her boyfriend Willie.
“My boyfriend is a truck driver and we’ve been together for three years, best friends for six,” she wrote. “He’s the love of my life, and he is such a great man. We are more like big kids at heart and we love being together.”
But, since finances are tight, they’d never been on a fancy date.
“We’ve been to dinner a few times, but we’ve never been able to dress up and go out somewhere fancy because we can’t afford it,” she wrote. “I would LOVE to surprise him with a fancy date in Atlanta because he works so hard out on the road, and it would be really nice to do something special for him.”
So sweet, right?
It sounds like they have a wonderful relationship: “He treats me like a princess every day and it would make me so proud to make him feel like the King he is — even if it’s only one day,” said Cassie.
Although we could only pick 50 winners out of the 11,000+ Purple Friday entries we received, we knew we had to make this happen for her and Willie.
One of my coworkers suggested The Sun Dial, a rotating restaurant on the 72nd floor of The Westin in downtown Atlanta.
Let’s just say they enjoyed it…
“It was AMAZING,” Cassie said. “The view was phenomenal! I simply cannot stress how beautiful it is up there. I seriously could have stayed for hours because it was so calming and surreal.
“It was so cool how it rotated,” she added, “because you’d get lost in conversation and look up five minutes later and you were looking at something completely different!”
The service and the food? Excellent, as well.
“We’re not really used to fancy things so I was a little nervous,” she said, “but [our server] took all that away and replaced it with a pure feeling of excitement and joy.”
They enjoyed crab cakes, lobster and steak (one of the best Willie’s ever had!), but were too stuffed for dessert.
Willie loved the surprise — in fact, he’d told Cassie’s cousin a few months prior he’d always wanted to eat at The Sun Dial.
“I had NO idea,” she said. “Life has a funny way of setting things up like that… It was one of the best nights we’ve ever had.”
Your Turn: Did you enjoy this couple’s story?
Susan Shain, senior writer for The Penny Hoarder, is always seeking adventure on a budget. Visit her blog at susanshain.com, or say hi on Twitter @susan_shain.
