Lockdown Love Story: How I Proposed To My Boyfriend

Think back to when the lockdown first began for you. Could you imagine falling in love or having a corona lockdown love story? Could you have (even slightly) imagined what your life would look like a year later?

This post is about my lockdown love story and proposing to my partner during a global pandemic. I never (ever) thought I’d write those words or could have imagined where I would be a year from that point.

Here’s our story:

Jay and I knew that we were pretty serious about each other very early on in our relationship. For the first few weeks of dating, I remember thinking to myself “this guy can’t be thissss good.” 

I was basically under the impression that one day the switch was going to flip and it wouldn’t be like this anymore.

This being that I felt like the most important, special, supported, beautiful and loved human in the world.

This being that “holy shit, I only thought this happens in movies.”

This being the guy who would bring me my morning cup of warm lemon water in bed, write me love notes just because, spoil me with flowers weekly, and look at me like I was the only human being that ever existed. This was just the start.

Weeks passed, then months, and nothing changed. 

Jay values and respects me. I never have to make myself smaller or feel like I need to be someone else to feel loved by him. If anything, I know that he has brought the most authentic parts of me out – front and center. 

There has not been a morning when I don’t wake up to Jay telling me how much he loves me. 

Not one day has passed by where we don’t say how grateful we are for each other and how much we love each other. 

Jay is my soulmate. I manifested him extremely quickly. Looking back, I could have never imagined how fast our relationship would took off. (If you’re manifesting your dream partner, this worksheet and exercises will do wonders – I’m sure of it!)

We were four months into our relationship, before we seriously discussed marriage, kids, and our future. Jay told me that he couldn’t see himself waiting longer than a year to propose, and I knew that I also wanted to get down on one knee and propose to him too. 

Fast forward to April 2021. From conversations and mischievous glances, we both know that the proposals were approaching. For weeks, I thought that I would propose to Jay first. He actually ended up popping the question a week before I did in the most scenic and beautiful way in Cyprus.

The Preparation

I knew that I wanted to propose to Jay on May 1st. I chose that day for several reasons:

1. May is Jay’s birthday month and the month we started dating
2. Exactly a year ago, we went on our second platonic (socially distanced) walk. At the end of the walk, Jay said he tried to feel out if our friendship could become something more serious. He says I didn’t bite! This time around, I wanted to show him loud and clear where I stood.

Before I knew the ins and outs of how I wanted to propose, I was sure about a few things. 

Coffee

I knew that I wanted it to be in our home – where we’ve spent a majority of the last year completely absorbed in one another. I also wanted coffee to be a part of it. My sister gifted us the most incredible coffee machine back in January and I’ve basically made Jay coffee every day since then. I’m currently perfecting latte hearts, which are tough. Our coffee break is something we look forward to everyday.

Around the holidays, I was doing some etsy shopping and came across a mug with a personalized hidden message on the bottom of it. I instantly knew that I wanted to have one that said “Jay, Will You Marry Me?”. I ordered it and hid it underneath our bed for almost 5 months! 

Songs for Jay

I also knew that I wanted to write two songs for Jay’s proposal. I started writing the songs around two months beforehand and if I’m being honest, they weren’t 100% finished when May 1st rolled around. It’s very hard to write a song for someone you live with and are basically always in the same room with!

The first song was a timeline of our relationship and a reminder of all of the beautiful memories we’ve had. It was almost 10 minutes long….yikes!

The second song was about the things that I promise to Jay in our relationship and moving forward. I completely changed the melody and moved the verses around in the days leading up to singing it to him! I love how it came out and I’m happy I went along with those changes.

The Ring

Lastly, I was positive that I wanted to get down on one knee and have a ring waiting for him. I found a wonderful shop on Etsy called Oren Braverman based in Israel that had incredible ratings and reviews. Little did I know just how amazing they were. 

Erez and the team went above and beyond to have Jay’s ring shipped out to me. I had it in my hand (in Germany!) within a week of ordering! One of my favorite things about the ring is that I was able to have it engraved. I engraved it with a line from the first song I wrote to Jay, which reads “You’re my every moment, my soulmate, my truth.” 

May 1st finally rolled around.

It was a lazy Saturday. I made us some pancakes for breakfast and then we had some time to do our own thing. Jay coded and spent some time on the computer, which was perfect for me as I finished the final touches with the songs in our bedroom. 

At around 1 pm, we usually have a cappuccino together. I knew that the time was approaching…. I was getting nervous and in the back of my mind, I had a feeling that Jay might know I was up to something. I quickly made the coffee in the proposal mug so that he wouldn’t have a chance to see the bottom of it.

We set up camp on our couch, with the coffee and some chocolate. It wasn’t until Jay basically got to the last sip that he realized what the message said. I can clearly remember him looking up shocked and saying “Whaaat?! Stacey!” He was genuinely so surprised and taken aback by it – he also had no idea that I was going to propose on that day!

I then had to tell him that there were still a few surprises … but before I got to it, we took a few minutes to hug and hold each other. 

I then grabbed my guitar and sang both of the songs I wrote to him. The songs and our hugs, tears, and laughter in between took around 20 minutes.

In that moment, I was singing to the man of my dreams. I was thinking about this past year, the best year of my life, and how lucky I was to have found this kind of love. Finally, I was thinking about our future together, our family, our growth – I’m getting teary eyed thinking about it now!

I hid the ring behind the couch an hour earlier, so I quickly grabbed it from behind the pillow. I got down on one knee in the middle of our living room and asked Jay to marry me! 

He said YES!

For the next two hours, we spent Facetiming with Jay’s mom and then with my mom – who were both so excited and happy for us. Afterward, we went on a walk around our neighborhood and I snapped some adorable pics of Jay having his “I’m engaged” moment. 

When we got home, I ordered dinner from our favorite Greek restaurant, watched a movie on our projector in bed, and were gushing with love. 

It was the most US kind of day… it was PERFECT!