The Perfect Proposal at Emerald Bay, Laguna Beach

October 22, 2016 was a special day. It marks the moment where I officially knew I would be spending the rest of my life with Akshay. I have to say he got me good! I believed him when he told me we were doing a beach photo shoot and then heading out to a gala event after (clearly not the case). Luckily, he is marrying a gullible woman and was able to pull off a perfect proposal, flawlessly!

Since the engagement, people have asked if I was suspicious or had any kind of inkling. Let me list out the top 3 reasons why I was completely clueless:

Akshay had mentioned several times in the last couple months that he wanted to wait till early 2017 to propose.
Also, the last few weekends have been jam packed with something or the other, so I didn’t think he had time to sneak around and plan a proposal.
I had shown him the exact ring style that I wanted back in June, when we randomly walked into a jeweler. I kid you not, this boy was on his phone the entire time barely paying attention. (Akshay’s note: it’s called surreptitiously multitasking)

I’m not going to lie….there were a lot of suspicious activities Akshay got away with:

Exhibit A: He wouldn’t let me look at his phone, claiming he had a surprise for me on Halloween.
Exhibit B: He was very vague about what we were doing on October 22. He just told me it was a gala and that I needed to dress nice.
Exhibit C: The night before the proposal he told me that we would be going to Laguna for a surprise photo shoot. He wanted to take photos for the blog because it’s been my recent passion, and he is very proud of me. Guys come on, that’s believable! Either way, I’m glad he told me because I went and got my hair done that Saturday :).
Exhibit D: He made me blindfold my eyes before we arrived at the beach claiming that there was something at the photo shoot he wanted to surprise me with. (yeah ok, I’m really gullible).

Anyways, after the blindfold came off, and I saw both of our families gathered around, it hit me at that moment that my boyfriend is an amazing liar!

In all seriousness though, the amount of time and thought that Akshay put into this is incredible. The set-up, the location, the timing could not have been planned any better! I can’t express how grateful I am for a sister-in-law that has similar tastes and interests as me, who helped set everything up while Akshay and I were getting ready for the “gala”. She was able to capture the moment so perfectly–the lights, rose petals, mason jars! I am also so happy that both our families were there to be part of it, too. It also makes sense why my parents had been pin drop silent on their favorite discussion of “when is Akshay proposing.”(Akshay’s note: Oh.) I can’t forget to call out that Akshay proposed with a ring that was the exact style as the one I saw back in June. Apparently, he even went back to that jeweler to make sure he got the style right…I love him so much!

After, we went back to Akshay’s parents house, and again, I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the door to find our friends and family waiting to celebrate!

Below are some photos from that evening. I have to say it was definitely a perfect proposal!