Jimmy Fallon Recalls How His Wife Nancy "Messed" Up His Proposal

Did you ever hear the story of how Jimmy Fallon proposed to his wife Nancy Juvonen?

The couple told the story during Tuesday's at-home edition of The Tonight Show.

After the late-night host purchased a Neil Lane ring, he called up Nancy's father to ask for permission to propose. Jimmy also let Nancy's brother know he was going to pop the big question.

"Then, what happened was, you messed everything up for me," Jimmy recalled. "You get to the door and you go, 'I have a surprise for you.' I go, 'I hope it doesn't mess up my surprise,' which was the big thing. I got the ring."

The surprise was that Nancy had secured a reservation at Per Se—an acclaimed restaurant in New York. Jimmy said he had been "dying" to go to the establishment. However, he knew he didn't want to propose there.

"I was going to get engaged in, like, Gramercy Park or something that will just always be around. Something classic," he said. "I didn't want to go to a restaurant because, what if in 30 years, the restaurant changes hands? Now it's a laser tag place. Now, it's like, 'Kids this is where your mom and I got engaged—at the laser tag house.'"

Jimmy decided to go to the restaurant and propose after the meal. However, the dinner ended up being 14 courses long. After they got back home, Jimmy was contacted by Nancy's brother, who wanted to know if the celeb had gotten down on one knee. Jimmy said he hadn't and explained the dinner was several hours long. Still, Nancy's brother encouraged him to follow through with the proposal plans and suggested Jimmy ask Nancy to be his wife at a pub called Molly's. So, Jimmy asked his leading lady if she wanted to go out for one more drink. While she agreed, he didn't end up popping the question until several months later. 

"It was longer than your parents and my parents wanted," Nancy, who met Jimmy on the set of Saturday Night Live and then went on to work with him in the movie Fever Pitch, said.

So, how did he do it? Jimmy said he proposed to Nancy at her family's summer house in New Hampshire. While he tried to fight back the tears, he couldn't contain the waterworks.

"As soon as I even remotely pulled the ring out of my pocket, I start crying," he recalled. "I get down on one knee and I'm, like, shaking…My voice is, like, quivering. It looks like I'm having a heart attack."

Of course, the producer said yes. In fact, her family saw the whole thing and started cheering from inside the house. The two tied the knot in 2007. The rest, as they say, is history.

Watch the video to hear them tell the whole story.

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