For a long while now, I’ve been wanting to propose to Stephanie. I sort of knew how her dream proposal would be, so I had to get creative to make it as close as possible to what she would want. For a while, I had ideas in my head of multiple scenarios.

It wasn’t until I finally got the ring that all the ideas clicked, and the true planning for the day of the proposal began. Little by little, things were coming together! Stephanie had no idea what was to come. She was expecting it to be sometime next year in 2024 (at the time). At least that’s what I had her believe!

As the days passed, I got to work. I started ordering the necessary accessories and talked to the organist at our parish to help me out by playing one of her favorite songs from Disney, “I See the Light” from the movie Tangled! It also happens to be one of her favorite movies.

For the proposal, I bought balloons and wrapped lights around them to create the illusion of lanterns. As the date got closer, I asked for permission at our parish to propose inside the building, in front of the altar where we would, in the future, say our vows. The main thing was that the proposal was to take place after Mass ended on Christmas Eve, making it now Christmas time!

Once I got the yes from our priest and permission to continue, I started contacting close friends and family to see if they could be there for that special moment. The majority were able to make it; it was Christmas after all, at 2 a.m. when the proposal would most likely happen.

The date was getting close, and she needed to get her nails done, so I was pushing it, but for some reason, she didn’t think anything of it; she just rolled along. The day was finally here! I was super excited because she had NO IDEA what was about to happen.

Then suddenly, as Mass began and went on, I started to get nervous because certain people who don’t normally go to our parish were there, and she noticed them. She would say, “Oh look, so and so is here,” “Mira quien está aquí,” and so on. We had a view of everyone since we sat down in the choir section during Mass.

When Mass finally ended, it was a matter of getting everyone who wasn’t part of the moment to exit and having Stephanie’s godmother, Zoila, take her to the office to distract her while we set everything up inside.

Once Zoila took Stephanie, it was also time to break the news to her parents. I asked them just minutes before, if I could propose to her, and they said yes. A massive wave of emotions went through them—excited but also shocked about what was about to happen.

I then rushed to Zoila’s office, where we blindfolded Stephanie as we walked her to the altar, with me right behind her. I cued our organist to play the piano; there was also a violinist who stayed and played the melody of the song. At that moment, I knew she realized what was going on. She started crying as soon as she heard the music.

The scenery was just perfect: lights off, lit-up balloons at different heights, and people holding small lit-up paper lanterns with tiny plastic candles inside. Everyone was recording and taking photos.

I had her stand in front of the altar, facing the choir where the organist was playing, and slowly turn to look at the people who were there until she made a full 180-degree turn, with me already on one knee, finally popping the question:

“WILL YOU MARRY ME? ¿TE CASAS CONMIGO?”

She said “YES,” barely able to say it with all the emotions running through her body, trying to process the moment and live it at the same time.

Soon after, we had the priest give us a blessing as well, and then we proceeded to go outside for one more surprise.

Just like in the movie, I had sky lanterns ready to launch. We lit one up and watched it fly sky-high, just like in Tangled.

Now it’s just a matter of time before we say “I DO” for the rest of our lives and live happily ever after!