Boyfriend turns photo op into surprise proposal

I knew that I wanted to propose to her for a long time. I wanted to create a moment that we would remember for a lifetime. I've been planning this day for a little less than a year. Just thinking about it, goin over different situations in my head. Locations, time of day stuff like that. I also knew I wanted to share it with her friends and family. I was going for shock and awe. I've surprised her a few times but I wanted this one to knock her off her feet.

Originally I had devised a plan to propose to her on April 25th in Brooklyn near the Brooklyn Bridge Park. I had made plans with her, cancelled them to get her upset saying I had to now work that weekend. She would meet me after work and the same plan would more or less unfold. We'd go to a public space. Her friends and family would wait nearby. I'd ask a stranger to photograph us and the rest is history.

Sadly, my jeweler never finished my ring. His wife was pregnant, he had a death in the family and he was running a business alone. So my ring was completely messed up. I had to text all my friends, tell them to go home, hide the signs and champagne and everything and continue on with this lie. My girlfriend had no idea I was planning to propose to her. I might have taken it too far. She was under the impression that [after] 4 years of dating that I would have proposed by now. It wasn't my intention to play mind games but sadly I had to play dumb. When in reality I thought about it every day for close to a year.

So fast forward to May 16th. I received my ring at 7am that morning and the plan was in motion.

Me and Bianca would do some things in the morning. I knew it was going to rain so I suggested we'd watch a movie that day and she agreed. I told her I wanted to go to a nice theater so I suggested Columbus Circle. I knew she needed a dress the following week so I suggested we'd go up to a store on 79th street and Madison which was only a few blocks from the fountains in Central Park. My friends would enter into the park closer to 72nd street. So after shopping we'd go to the movies. I suggested we'd walk through the park to kill time because the movie didn't start until 5:15 (fake movie time).

We walked through the park slowly. We actually stopped to watch a wedding taking place. When we got to the fountain area I started to panic slightly but kept my cool. Once I found where my friends were I knew where not to look or go with Bianca. We walked up the stairs near the tunnel and I had asked her to take a photo with me because it was so nice out.

This was the tricky part. Asking a stranger to take the photo. I walked up to the first guy I saw. Which was a man in a tank top who was doing parkour named Exo. I leaned in and told him it was a video and to go with it. He told me not to worry. Apparently he saw my friends and knew exactly what was happening. The rest is history. Still to this day everyone is raving at how good the video was and who took it. He did a great job. I was so happy I didn't even care my brand new phone was in the hands of a stranger but I'm glad he didn't stop filming. It was the happiest day of my life. My plan worked flawlessly.

Planning the wedding will be another story. We have no date set, no location and don't know how many people will be there. We know we want it to be in New York so our friends can be involved. But we'll cross that bridge soon.

I do have to give a lot of credit to her best friend Reema. She helped me with the signs and coordinating everyone on the day of. I did write out a massive email with diagrams and pictures as well. But she helped me so much. Also my friends who were ready to move at the drop of a hat. They supported me 100% and wanted to make this special."