How Love Happens: Stories of Marylanders' marriage proposals

A surprise sprung on shoestring. Another orchestrated at 30,000 feet with a crew of flight-attendant co-conspirators. And a couple of conclusions reached jointly, wordlessly — and no less romantically. Just in time for Valentine's Day, we asked a handful of well-known Maryland couples how they got engaged. They are Dr. Robert A. Montgomery, ground-breaking kidney transplant surgeon, and his wife, opera star Denyce Graves; Baltimore City State's Attorney Gregg Bernstein and his wife, Sheryl Goldstein, director of the Mayor's Office on Criminal Justice. Dr. Benjamin S. Carson, the renowned pediatric neurosurgeon, and his wife, Candy, co-founder and executive secretary for Carson Scholars Fund. And Bill and Nancy Devine, owners of Faidley's Seafood in Lexington Market. Whether on bended knee or behind the wheel, amid the glamour of world travel or the terror of a highway near-miss, on the eve of a road race or between military deployments, these four couples came to the same conclusion: It was time to get hitched. -- Laura Vozzella More Valentine's content: • See videos of Baltimore Sun readers discussing how they fell in love. • Baltimore Sun 2011 Valentine's Day guide