A Sweet Proposal for a Surprise Engagement

A surprise engagement isn’t easy to pull off, but my fiancé had me saying yes with a sweet proposal for marriage.

See his perfect proposal, complete with will you marry me signs and a tasty proposal dessert.

As many of you know, I got engaged a few weeks ago, the night of a wild northeast snowstorm. So I’m going to tell you the story of how my fiancé, Lawrence, proposed with the most creative proposal!

How did he pop the question and pull off a surprise engagement? Here are all the details of how he asked, how I said “yes,” and why I can’t wait to say “I do.”

If you’re looking for marriage proposal ideas, read on!

A super sweet proposal

A few weeks ago, I had just come home from a business trip, and Lawrence told me that he’d made dessert. He said he’d done lots of cooking because he was bored while I was away.

I’m thinking he told me this because it’s not like him to make dessert. We try to avoid keeping too many sweets in the house! 

But Lawrence knows that the way to my heart is through food and so a sweet proposal would be perfect for us. He also knew that I wanted a private proposal with no one else around.

How the proposal started

Lawrence asked me to go to the bedroom for a few minutes while he defrosted dessert.

I didn’t think much of it until he called me out to the dining room, and there were eight mini bowls of ice cream and nice creams on the table. He’d made four varieties from scratch, each with a romantic food pun title!

“Olive juice,” aka “I love you” ice cream

The first flavor that Lawrence had us taste was a lemon olive oil ice cream called “Olive Juice.”

This is a play on the words “I love you” and an inside joke from our early years of dating. Here’s The New York Times recipe he used as inspo.

Seeds of passion ice cream

One of my favorite foods in the world is passion fruit. I grew to love the fruit on a trip to the Dominican Republic years ago. It’s plentiful there but somewhat difficult to find in the northeast.

One of the ways Lawrence won me over when we’d newly started dating was by surprising me with a passion fruit one afternoon. He called this ice cream flavor “Seeds of Passion” and followed this recipe from Olivia’s Cuisine.

Figgin’ amazin’ ice cream

I also love figs. They’re in season for such a short time each year, and I always run to get my hands on some.

And of course, I enjoy dried figs year round! The third variety of ice cream Lawrence served us was a maple fig ice cream called “Figgin’ Amazin'” (made by following this Food Network recipe).

Lawrence later told me that he’d wanted to call it “You’re Figgin’ Amazin'” but didn’t want me to make the titles overly sweet, or I might guess that he was about to propose to me!  

Say avocaDO ice cream

Then came the last variety of nice cream in my sweet proposal, this one with a base of avocado, mint, and pine nuts!

Lawrence used this recipe from Feel Good Foodie as inspo.

He proposed!

Lawrence named this variety “Say AvocaDO.”

Before I knew it, Lawrence was on his knee, with one of my favorite songs (a Scottish rendition of Rod Stewart’s “Rhythm of My Heart”) playing. 

Then came the ring

Lawrence opened a ring box containing the most beautiful rose gold Henri Daussi halo cushion-cut engagement ring.

Then he asked me to marry him! 

I said “yes” (of course!)

Of course, I immediately said yes! Because, you know, I can’t wait to marry this man!

Side note: Lawrence went to great lengths to keep the food proposal a surprise! He even bought a hand mixer for the ice cream prep.

He wasn’t sure if we have one (we do!) and didn’t want to ask me in case that would have given anything away. I’d say he came up with one of the most creative ways to propose!

An element of humor

One of the things I love most about Lawrence is his sense of humor. He’s always making me laugh.

He knew we might be a bit teary after the romantic marriage proposal, so he whipped out this note card with reject ice cream titles. We did laugh, right after his sweet proposal!

A celebratory cocktail

Then Lawrence made our favorite cocktail, gin and tonic. We discovered our love for the drink on a trip to Scotland, and we now make it with Hendrick’s gin and Fever Tree Elderflower Tonic Water. 

The rest of our proposal night

He asked me what I wanted to do next. I immediately responded that I wanted to spend the rest of the night talking. We chatted about our relationship, how he’d planned the proposal, and our visions for our wedding (stay tuned for that!).

We decided to make the night ours, and we called our immediate family members the next day to share the exciting news. We told our other friends and family soon after.

Wasn’t this one of the sweetest private proposal ideas at home ever? I knew that Lawrence was ready to propose, but I had no idea when the special moment would be happening.

I didn’t know it yet, but we’d be celebrating our upcoming nuptials with not one, but two, engagement parties (including an engagement party on a budget we hosted at our home). And of course, there would be DIY engagement favors!

I also got to do proposals of my own! Check out my post on what to put in a bridesmaid box and a maid of honor box, as well as groomsmen proposal ideas and an awesome will-you-be-my-best-man gift.

More wedding planning ideas

If you liked this post on my surprise engagement, you’ll also enjoy:

• Getting Married in New York?
• Cheap Places to Have a Wedding in Pennsylvania
• Low-Cost Wedding Venues for Getting Married in New Jersey
• What to Put in a Bridesmaid Box and a Maid of Honor Box
• Groomsmen Proposal Ideas and a Will-You-be-My-Best-Man Gift
• What to Put in a Female Groomswoman Proposal Box
• Flower Girl Proposal Ideas

Sources

• Lemon Olive-Oil Ice Cream, 
• The New York Times
• Passion Fruit Ice Cream, Olivia’s Cuisine
• Maple-Fig Ice Cream, FoodNetwork.com
• Avocado Ice Cream, 
• Feel Good Foodie

What are the best proposal stories you’ve heard? How did you partner pop the question?

Whether your wedding proposal involves a treasure hunt to hide the ring, a grand gesture to propose in front of a Christmas tree in the living room, or a big photo shoot, I want to hear about your proposal at home and creative proposal ideas!