Our Proposal Story
Before I get to the exciting part, I think I should start a little further back in our love story to bring you up to speed.
Steven and I met on July 19th, 2014 through mutual friends and instantly hit it off. That night we hung out in a group and connected over cars while playing pool and Wii Sports. He asked for my number that night and to take me on a first date just a couple days later. I honestly wasn’t expecting anything to come of it, but little did I know that was the last first date I’d ever go on. We made it official three weeks later!
Fast forward to January 2019 when we were about 4 and a half years into dating, and on our way to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for vacation. Steven had been to Kauai, HI with me a couple of times since my dad is from there and I still have family there, but I had never been to Mexico. Steven grew up going to his family’s timeshare in Puerto Vallarta, so it has always been a special place for him. It was about time he took me to Mexico! ๐
Halfway through our vacation (January 9th to be exact), we went into the city to explore the shops and the Malecon, the almost mile-long boardwalk in Puerto Vallarta with lots of shops, restaurants, and bars located along the sandy shores of the bay.
After spending the afternoon exploring the area, Steven took me to a restaurant less than 30 minutes out of the city called Le Kliff. Le Kliff is a roughly 30 year old restaurant on the cliffs of Puerto Vallarta with expansive ocean views. The restaurant has multiple levels going down the cliff and a beautiful balcony overlooking the water. The restaurant is one of the largest palapas in the world and their tropical garden atmosphere is very romantic. Le Kliff’s food is definitely a highlight as well, and their service is amazing.
Anyways, back to our story…
We arrived at Le Kliff, and as the hostess took us to our table overlooking the balcony, she explained that people love taking photos there to get the amazing view in the background. Of course, as soon as I saw the steps leading up to two grass hearts in the stone balcony I knew we had to take photos there (and that something very special might just happen in that spot, too).
Steven and I ordered some fun cocktails and enjoyed sipping them while admiring the truly breathtaking ocean view. I remember thinking something along the lines of, “This restaurant and location are seriously unreal!” I couldn’t believe what an amazing place it was and that Steven found it. We ordered our dinner and I was trying to get us to go down to the balcony to take photos before the sun set, but Steven wanted to wait for the food to come (turns out he was waiting for the sun to set on purpose). We ate our delicious meals and decided to go take photos.
Before we headed down to the balcony, Steven asked me if I wanted to go to the bathroom. I thought the way he said it was kind of strange, so I looked at him and asked if I needed to go to the bathroom. He said, “Let’s both go to the bathroom.” Now to paint a picture for you, you have to understand the layout of the restaurant a little. Out table was on a lower tier of the main part of the restaurant and the bathroom was all the way at the top, closer to the entrance. When I went into the bathroom, I thought something might be going on so I took my time. I expected to catch Steven doing something suspicious when I walked out of the bathroom, but he was just calmly waiting for me like always. I didn’t know this at the time, but he had actually ran back down to the table to get the ring box as soon as I went into the bathroom and ran back up before I was done. He didn’t want me to see him take the box out of his backpack and put it in his shorts, which aren’t the best at hiding much anyways. He pulled that whole maneuver off very well ๐
We asked the hostess to take photos for us using Steven’s phone. We took some normal, posed, smiling pictures, then some of us looking out at the ocean…
…and that’s when Steven started talking about the future and I knew it was coming! He made some comments about how the ocean looked like it was never ending and related that to our love. I don’t remember exactly what he said, but it was something like that haha. He then dropped down on one knee and asked me to marry him!
Even though I had been waiting for this to happen for years, I teared up and said yes, then we kissed and hugged.
Both of us were a little shaky from the adrenaline. It’s funny how sure of something you can be and even though you might be expecting it, you can still get super nervous. I couldn’t stop smiling!
We took some time to ourselves on the balcony before heading back to our table to order dessert and champagne. Le Kliff was so thoughtful and also brought us a dessert board that said “Congratulations” on it. The whole night was so special and we’ve held Le Kliff close to our hearts ever since then.
