Featured Proposal: Sergio & Anna

Last week, we shared a romantic proposal in Hawaii. Since we're not over summer and want to keep vacation spirit alive, we're excited to share another destination proposal. This week, we'll travel to Europe! Sergio and Anna took an exotic vacation to Madrid, but little did Anna know that Sergio had been planning to propose to her there for over 6 months! From metal detectors at the airport to a last minute change in location, Sergio shares his perspective on how he brought this proposal to life. Find out how a photoshoot turned into an unforgettable moment for Anna. 

Tell us a little about about your relationship before the proposal. How did you and Sergio meet?

The way we met is actually a funny story. I never liked him at first, but went on a pity date anyway because I was bored. Sergio and I met back in 2012 through Facebook. Sergio contacted me first with a simple message telling me how much he enjoyed the travel album I had. At the time, I had a public album on my Facebook with over 100 pictures of exotic places I had been to. After briefly chatting with him through Facebook messenger, he friend requested me. Normally, I never add people I don’t know and almost declined his request, but because we had about 50-something mutual friends, I figured I might have had met him at a party and something inside told me to accept his request. From there we started talking online, but I was never into him or interested in dating him. I did it solely because he was the only one up late at nights when my insomnia kicked in and I was bored. Around May of 2012, he asked me to go to a Dodgers game with him. This was the first time I met him in person when he came to pick me up. It was fun. After that, a few weeks later, he asked me to another Dodgers game, this time he had really good seats. I couldn’t say no to good seats. Unfortunately, after the second date, we stopped talking for about 8 months.

After 8 months he messaged me again and we started talking again, this time it was a bit more serious. He really liked me and wanted to start a relationship, but I wasn’t really looking for one. Slowly, I started to really get to know him and like him. I really began to understand the type of person he was and how persistent he was with wanting to be with me and how much he liked me. Finally, on October 1, 2013, he asked me to be his girlfriend, and even though I still didn’t want a relationship and didn’t think I was ready for one yet, I didn’t want to lose him and we became official. Since then, he has helped me turn my life around for the better. We were together for 4 years before being engaged.

Sergio proposed in Spain. How did he pull that off? We want to know all the details about the proposal!

Well, we were strolling through a park in Madrid, Spain called Buen Retiro Park, taking pictures when he spotted a small wishing well and thought it would be the perfect spot for me to pose. Since I love taking pictures and creating content for my travel Instagram page, he asked me to do a couple of poses. One of them was to stand on the wishing well with my back turned to him and posing with my arms up. That’s when he put the box down and asked me to turn my head and look down. At first, I didn’t see the box and kept turning my head looking down thinking he was taking several pictures of me to choose from, then finally he told me to turn my head more and that’s when I saw the box. I turned around and asked him what it was and that’s when he went down on one knee and proposed.

That is such a creative idea! How long had he been planning this?

From what I know, several months. I had no idea. I wasn’t even thinking about settling down yet, let alone getting engaged. I was just beginning my life in the real world and really starting to enjoy it. We had never talked about getting engaged or married, so this was a complete surprise. I honestly didn’t know what to expect. I was definitely impressed and in love with the ring. I didn’t know he had such good taste

Sergio, let's hear from you. Tell us your perspective of the proposal.   

I had planned the proposal about 6 months prior to our trip to Spain.  Originally, I had planned to propose at the famous Park Güell in Barcelona, right in front of the Gaudí Dragon Fountain.  It would have been perfect, but there were far, far too many people to pull it off the way I had planned.  It would not have been a surprise at that moment because I would’ve had to clear people out and away from the famed mosaic and it would have been an obvious marriage proposal.  Instead, I decided to propose at the beautiful wishing well in Parque del Buen Retiro, Madrid - which turned out to be amazing! 

Keeping the secret from Anna was fairly easy - I just didn’t open my mouth! There were VERY FEW people who knew I had even had an engagement ring made at the time.  I just wanted an all-out surprise for everyone to enjoy! She had no idea I was going to propose.  My only concern was the ring setting off the metal detectors as I had it in my possession the entire time. I didn’t want TSA or anyone else stopping to search me and then have to actually bring the ring box out for them to check. That would’ve been pretty bad!!

The moment I proposed to her was beyond words. She was so shocked, happy, overjoyed, unprepared—it was amazing!  I was definitely nervous, but I had decided that it was the right place and time to do it.  The weather was wonderful, the setting was great, and the girl was perfect! I had been taking pictures of her doing silly things on top of the wishing well and she was just doing her thing striking poses.  I literally couldn’t have scripted it any better.  I’m just glad my phone had enough battery life to take the pictures and video because I only had one shot at it!

Your ring is gorgeous, is it something you had hinted you wanted?

Sergio and I did not go ring shopping together. I had no idea the proposal was even coming. In fact, I wasn’t really thinking about marriage or settling down yet. Sergio custom made the design all by himself with the help of one of his close friends, Joey  who works a Facets Gems, LA; he made the ring for us. I really didn’t know much about diamonds. All I knew was that I always wanted a cushion cut with a halo around it, and although my ring turned out to be a round cut without a halo, I’ve started to really like my ring a lot more than what I thought I wanted. I like how it’s classic and one that will never go out of style.

Have you started engagement or wedding planning yet?

We’re not really big on engagement parties. We decided not to do that, but instead save the money for the wedding. We haven't started planning, but we’re thinking of doing it in the Summer of 2020. We both decided that we don’t want the typical Armenian wedding in a hall like most of our friends have done. We want it to be different and one that our guests will remember.  I want my wedding to be perfect and find the right venue, so I really want to research and find the right location. We want to do an outdoor wedding; both our ceremony and reception. 

In Spring, we really got into it and started checking out some banquet halls before deciding that we wanted to do it outdoors and need more than a year to plan it. (Initially we had decided to do the wedding June of 2019). We’ve already created a guest list to give us a more accurate estimate of the number of guests we plan on having. I’ve been using Pintrest a lot for inspiration and ideas and asking newlywed friends around for recommendations. Other than that, we haven’t really booked anything yet. We feel like once we get a good idea of what we want and find the venue we love, we will start booking and planning out the details for the wedding. I want it to be my dream wedding and I know that to have that, I need more than a year to plan it.

Thank you to Sergio and Anna for taking time to share their proposal story. We are wishing them a lifetime of happiness as well as luck with planning their wedding!

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