Delegate couple engaged at GOP convention

Christopher Sheldon proposed to Lacey McGreevy Tuesday morning, and they were brought on stage at a Big & Rich concert later in the day. Shannon Dooling/WBUR

All the makings of a celebration were there: Balloons, music, friends, and the party.

So on Tuesday morning, the second day of the Republican National Convention, Christopher Sheldon, a Massachusetts delegate, proposed to Lacey McGreevy, a Rhode Island alternate delegate, at their hotel.

And she said yes.

“It’s been a whirlwind today,” said Sheldon, 38, a business owner from New Bedford, in a phone interview.

He and McGreevy, a 34-year-old marketing consultant from South Kingstown, first met in March at a local Republican event before the Rhode Island primary. The convention, he said, has been the “big thing on our calendar” ever since.

“We started getting to know each other, preparing for the convention, and it seemed pretty appropriate,” Sheldon said.

Sheldon initially planned to propose Thursday — the last day of the convention, when Donald Trump is expected to accept his party’s nomination. But the ring recently arrived from New York, he said, and “the time seemed right.”

As McGreevy opened the FedEx package, Sheldon got down on one knee and asked the question. When she said yes, Sheldon said, it was like “Christmas Day.”

Later in the day, Sheldon said, the Rhode Island delegation “thrust us up on stage” at a Big & Rich concert near the Quicken Loans Arena. Some members of the Massachusetts delegation were in attendance as well.

The proposal, and the first few days of the convention, couldn’t have gone any better, Sheldon said.

McGreevy and Sheldon plan to have an October wedding at Sheldon’s parents’ vineyard in Virginia.

But first, they will celebrate on Tuesday night — watching speeches from the convention floor.