It was the middle of July when Janae told me that she and Jackie booked flights for New York City in late October. I had no plan whatsoever, just that I wanted to propose sometime in October or November. As soon as she told me they booked the trip, I knew in my gut I wanted to take a chance, so I immediately booked my own flights. I sat on the idea for a month or so before telling anyone, but eventually, I coordinated with her sister Erica and two best friends, Jackie and Ally, to get plans in motion.

My biggest concern was knowing it would be her last girls trip with Jackie before we get married, so I didn’t want to crash their trip and take away from their time together. Jackie was our key player though, the mastermind. She helped find the spot, made dinner reservations for afterwards, and kept us from all running into each other, multiple times, while exploring the city.

Janae’s only request for the proposal was to have Erica be there. In the weeks leading up to the trip, her parents passed through town the weekend before and after her birthday, and Erica was in town that week for her birthday. We knew that Janae might expect a proposal on her birthday, so we had to throw her off. Janae and I had talked about taking a day trip to Chattanooga, so I told her we should go a couple weekends after they get back from New York. The seed was planted, and she became increasingly convinced the proposal would happen in Chattanooga.

One tricky element was the fact that Janae and I share our locations with each other on our phones. I told her I was going to Mississippi to visit my family while she was in New York, so that’s exactly what I did. I drove to Mississippi the same morning she flew out to New York. What she didn’t know was that I had figured out how to reassign my location from my phone over to my iPad. I drove back to Nashville that night, and left my iPad with my sister. She and her husband took it to a pumpkin patch with them the next day, took pictures of them and all the kids, all while I was on a plane to New York. They sent the pictures to me that night, and I sent them to Janae from my hotel room. She had no idea.

I found the perfect spot in Brooklyn Park that afternoon, Erica flew in the next morning, and then the nerves finally hit me. I was so nervous, but overwhelmed with excitement. We gave Jackie the route to take through the park, and so we waited. While on their way, I spotted them through the trees from across the park, and my heart sank. A couple minutes later, they walk by us and to where the path opens up next to the water. Our signal was when Janae takes off her jacket for pictures. As soon as the jacket came off, I snuck over behind Jackie, barely out of Janae’s sight. Little did Janae know, Jackie was videoing, and I was less than 20 feet from her. I peeked around Jackie, and she spotted me. Instantly screamed, ran faster than I’ve ever seen, and jumped into my arms.

When I got down on one knee, she began jumping and said yes! It was the most precious thing. Jackie got all the video content, Erica got the photos, and Janae nearly tackled Erica when she finally realized Erica was the photographer. The last big surprise was at dinner. Ally and her husband Robert had canceled their other trip to come to New York, and they were waiting for us at dinner. It was truly so magical and perfect.