The Proposal
David proposed to Jessica in February. She thought something was up because he had planned a 3:30 a.m. sunrise balloon ride in Temecula. “He never plans – I’m the planner in this relationship . . . It was just the two of us, no other people. When we were above the clouds, it looked like the sea. It was beautiful! David kept pointing out things to look at and then he finally pointed to a banner that read ‘Jessica will you marry me?’ When we got closer to the ground, I saw that it was friends and family holding the banner. That was the real surprise. I teared up when David proposed. The ring was beautiful, it was perfect. My favorite part of the proposal was everything.”
David’s favorite part was getting to be above the clouds with Jessica. “The whole experience operated flawlessly. But organizing it was insane. While it was peaceful up above the clouds, there was a lot of chaos happening on the ground. You never know exactly where the balloon is going to land. So there’s a ground team (which is one person in a truck) that communicates via walkie-talkie with the office who then calls the pilot in the balloon. But the office wasn’t open that early. For friends and family to know where to be with the banner, one of them had to chase down the ground team like a police chase so they could share the location with the rest of our friends and family with the banner. She lost them several times, but she saved the day!”
“My favorite part of the proposal was everything.”
The Ring
Jessica’s ring has a gorgeous 2 carat pear shaped salt and pepper diamond set with claw prongs. The white gold cathedral setting has a leaf motif with milgrain-framed diamonds.
When asked what she loves most about her ring, Jessica said, “I love that it’s out of the ordinary, not traditional, which exactly is how I am. It’s my personality – I like things being different. When I first saw the salt and pepper diamond at Diamonds Forever, I knew without a doubt that it was the kind of the stone I wanted. I had told David early on that I loved the pear shape. The center stone is bigger than I thought I wanted but I love it!”
“I love that it’s out of the ordinary,
not traditional, which exactly is how I am “
When asked if he enjoyed the process of designing Jessica’s ring, David said, “Absolutely! This is a huge endorsement for Diamonds Forever. I went to several other places and hands-down you were the best experience, the most thoughtful. It was just a different experience. You left it to me to choose and you were genuinely excited for me!”
Finding Forever
Jessica and David are marrying labor day weekend. “We are having a hot air balloon wedding. The proposal was at sunrise, so our wedding will be a sunset. Guests will be in the balloons too.” David said he rented out the entire fleet of balloons for their wedding. “That way everybody can go up with us. There will be many balloons up in the sky. We will have cameras in each balloon and a drone videographer live streaming our wedding since there are some people who can’t come.”
When asked what she loves most about David, Jessica said “He’s a goofball. I can totally be myself around him. I’m never embarrassed about anything. We are just idiots together. Weirdos. Complete weirdos.”
How did Jessica know David was the one? She said, “I never had any hesitation of being myself with him. He’s always been very honest with me and he has always been there for me.”
David knew she was the one when they met at a Harry Potter and Dungeons and Dragons meetup. “Jessica is into Harry Potter and I’m into Dungeons and Dragons. I knew the first time we met that I could spend the rest of my life with her. She was so smart and so herself. Everything she had to say in that first conversation was so well thought out, it was structurally sound, cogent. She had good insights. And the way she was interacting with everyone was so smart. She wasn’t talking to hear herself talk, she had considered what she was going to say and how to say it.”
“I knew the first time we met that
I could spend the rest of my life with her.”
Jessica and David’s Tips
Jessica’s tip for anyone about to propose is to be considerate with the planning. David’s tip is to plan some extra twists. “Nine out of ten times, she knows you are planning a proposal so plan more than just the proposal. Of course, she is going to know! Who gets a hot air balloon randomly on a Thursday at sunrise? So I tried to plan extra surprises like the banner and having friends and family there. She is going to know you are planning, so plan something else unexpected. Plan like you know she’s suspicious and then plan to surprise her anyway.”
David’s advice for designing an engagement ring, “Go to Diamonds Forever. Second advice, if you can, buy her jewelry as presents earlier on in relationship. For the first year or two, I would get her rings or necklaces because I wanted to learn her taste, so I didn’t go in blind when picking out the engagement ring.”
❤️ Thank you so much Jessica and David for sharing your story. What a fantastic proposal!
