Engaged at the equator!

From med school meet-cute to glamorous getaway 

Val and I have been dating since her first month of medical school in Syracuse in 2016 (where we met in a Starbucks) and I was then halfway through my PhD program. She was wearing her sorority letters that day, which made it easy for me to strike up a conversation since we both were members of historically Asian American Greek-letter organizations. Since we both share a deep love for discovery and exploration, I wanted to jump on the opportunity to test my travel hacking skills to plan a once-in-a-lifetime trek to the other side of the world.

I didn’t seriously start planning for the proposal until 6 months before the target date. I initially planned to pop the question in Santorini, Greece but figured a warmer location would be better for a 2.2.22 proposal. I'm very much a numbers person and find the number two to be symbolic of pairs. The proposal happened during the middle of our stay in the Maldives, and it was disguised from her as a sunset photoshoot activity around the beach of our resort. While she was getting ready for the photoshoot (she wore a flowy, floral dress), I met with my hostess to finalize the details of how the proposal would be executed in a seamless fashion.

Setting the stage for a walk to remember

Our hostess whisked us away from our overwater villa and drive us around the island until we arrived at the reception area where we were received by our photographer. We took a number of creative poses barefoot along the shoreline until we came upon an elevated sand cliff. I lucked out with having a live band of musicians hailing from the Philippines who we got to know over the past several days during cocktail hours to play romantic jams in the background while we were doing our photoshoot. The selection of songs included:

• "Just the Two of Us" by Bill Withers and Grover Washington, Jr.
• "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None The Richer
• "Every Breath You Take" by The Police
• "Say You Won't Let Go" by James Arthur
• "As Long As You Love Me" by The Backstreet Boys

I held her hand as we walked up the cliff, and there she saw a large heart dug into the beach sand with the words “Will You Marry Me” inscribed inside and filled with red rose petals. In addition to bringing a spare videographer to capture the moment on film, our photographer cleverly arranged two hidden GoPros (one on the trunk of a palm tree for a top-down view and another next to a boulder for a bottom-up) to capture the reaction. I dropped on one knee (a scene I practiced many times in the shower of our villa) and opened a light blue box and asked her to marry me. She said yes! We proceeded with finishing the photoshoot with shots of her newly adorned (Tiffany Setting) engagement ring in platinum.

Tasting the stars

Right next to the proposal beach decorations was a candlelit trail that led to our secluded, private dinner on the beach. We celebrated with a bottle of Taittinger before our full course meal was served by the most courteous of wait staff. To ensure that the kitchen staff could adequately prepare my meal, I provided them with our selections from their Maldivian menu the day before the proposal.

• Appetizer
• Scallops crudo, celery, pomegranate, passion fruit dressing
• Maldivian yellowfin tuna, watermelon salad, sesame soy sauce
• First Course
• Chilled honey melon soup, poached prawn, Parma ham
• Saffron infused seafood soup, rouille sauce
• Main Course
• Braised Angus short rib, sweet corn puree, gremolata
• Indian ocean Lobster tail, Arborio squid ink risotto, saffron creamy sauce
• Dessert
• Hadahaa coconut trilogy, coconut mouse, biscuit and ice cream
• Mango panna cotta, citrus texture, berries coulis

The feast ended with a violet view of the moon with the silhouette of the overwater villas in the background. I just pulled off the proposal I’ve been dreaming of for years.

Trusting the process

To be honest, I didn’t know how the proposal was going to turn out since planning it from halfway across the world had its own challenges, but trusting in my hostess—who I did not get to correspond with or meet until the day we arrived—to hammer out the onsite details made the experience much less nervewracking. Our hostess (who shifted from a career in pharmacy to hospitality) was still several months in training on the job, and we were actually her first proposal that she organized on the resort. She absolutely nailed it.

As the sun began to set, it began to dawn on us that our relationship had now been upgraded to fiancé and fiancée! We entered our villa with an elegantly folded swan towel decoration and more rose petals strewn across the bed. We had a floating breakfast in our pool the following morning and informed our family via FaceTime of the news. Seeing how much we enjoyed our stay in the Maldives has already inspired me to start planning for our honeymoon in Bora Bora. More on that in a future post!