Hi, Iggy here :)

The story of our engagement begins right after we came back from my brother Frankie's wedding in June 2023. Lorena gave me four conditions for when I finally proposed to her:

1. I have to ask in a place with lots of nature and very little people

2. I must have photographers and a videographer to capture the moment

3. Her hair and nails must be flawless (to me they always are but she doesn't believe me)

4. It has to be a complete surprise

If I didn't meet the conditions above, she reserved the right to say no and make me try again. Uh oh...

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Fast-forward to February 2024. I'm more certain that I want to marry Lorena than anything else so I start my preparations. On top of meeting her four conditions, I wanted to to ask her to marry me in a way only I can.

I first asked her to be my girlfriend by singing her a song, so I wanted to take that idea a step further and write a song about our experiences together for the proposal. We were obsessed with The Greatest Showman so I settled on changing the lyrics to "From Now On" to tell tell the story of my falling in love with her.

This endeavor would take several months so in the meantime I worked on the rest of the proposal. I decided on a picnic at a park both of us hadn't explored and I managed to sneakily acquire the ring and book the photographers to help capture the moment. The photographers, Stephanie and Landon Hendrick, are wonderful people that helped me pick the Washington Oaks Gardens State Park in Palm Coast for the picnic and we planned the logistics of the proposal together. I couldn't have done it without them.

This still leaves me with conditions 3 and 4 unmet, and 2 only half met. How do I make sure I have my guitar at the picnic without her being suspicious? With some misdirection. I convinced her that my online guitar professor, Tom, was asking his students to record videos of us playing the music he'd taught us to promote his services. I'd bring my own camera to record the video and be my own videographer. She didn't suspect a thing, Condition 2 was met!

Conditions 3 and 4 were the hardest. I made a reservation for a nice dinner the evening of the proposal as an excuse to dress up and get fancy, but my efforts were in vain. I even had to ask my mom to encourage her to get fancy, but still nothing. I couldn't push more without risking her figuring something out, so I left it as it is. I realize now that I should have discovered my new hobby for manicuring and convinced her to be my first test subject.

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Now, the day of the picnic: May 25th, 2024. All the preparations were done, I had the ring safely stowed away in my guitar case, our snacks packed, and we got an early start to head to Washington Oaks Gardens. She looked more beautiful than ever so I hoped that she would forget about Condition 3.

The Hendricks arrived before we did to find the best picnic location and discreetly shared the location with me. They stayed hidden while Lorena and I set up the picnic. I started recording and practiced my nerves away while she read. After 10 minutes, I got the all clear from the Hendricks.

I told Lorena that I had a special song for her, but I needed something out of my guitar case. She was hesitant, but did open the case to see the ring sparkling back at her. She immediately started crying, and I almost broke down with her. I started playing my version of "From Now On" and somehow managed to get through the song without crying. I ended the song by kneeling and asking her to marry me. She didn't even manage to say "Yes", she just nodded at me and hugged me. I was trembling with nerves and adrenaline so I wasn't much better. We kneeled crying and hugging until I could finally place the ring on her finger.

Gifts