She Said YES!!!

To make me smile, it doesn’t take much. Just show a bit of initiative and that you are thinking of me. That is, if you are trying to impress me. However, most of my happiness comes from seeing my loved ones happy, gleaming, in love, and being treated right. If they are happy, I am happy.

My sister got engaged to her dream man on June 18, 2026. Being there for both of them truly was a dream come true. Since you have been here with me, I wanted to share with you some of the details that will have a special place in my heart, forever.

It was earlier this year that Andrew, her fiancé, my future brother-in-law, called me to tell me that he was planning to propose. I remember sitting in front of the ocean, on the rocks, listening to his excitement. As you can imagine, I went through 50 emotions in the span of a whole minute. I was excited because FINALLY. I was nervous because it’s crazy news. I was sad because the thought of not being there was too much. I was giddy because my sister is finally getting her happily ever after. I was happy. After all the emotions passed, all the questions came. Where? How? When? Who will be there? Who’s helping plan? One thing I knew for sure. I was NOT missing out on one of the most important moments of her life.

He told me that the plan was to propose in Aruba. They were going to Italy later in the spring, before their summer Aruba trip. He wanted to fully surprise her, so of course, he was not going to propose to her in Italy because she would have been expecting it. Plus, in Aruba there was a restaurant that they really loved, so he wanted to do it there. We talked about some logistics, and then I left him with the, “I will be there! I will help plan the proposal. Don’t worry about anything. Focus on Italy.”

The next couple of months looked like this: Emailing a couple of companies that focused on setting up proposals. Emailing photographers, musicians, and party planning venues (I kept all this information in a google sheets.) Learning about the fireworks laws in Aruba. It was a constant back and forth between them and me. On top of this, let’s add the crazy time difference. At times I didn’t hear back for months.

Once the official date was set for Thursday, June 18^th, I booked my flight. I had always said that during my Fiji service, I was not flying home. For what? I could use that money to go to Australia, twice! That’s how crazy the round trip would have been from Fiji to New York. However, drastic times led to drastic measures. This proposal, I HAD to be there.

When I booked my flight, I added flight protection! Never, ever do I do this. I figured, this is the time. I will be taking 6 flights in total. The chances of one being delayed or cancelled were definitely higher. And if this happens, I get all my money back. (Fast forward to returning to Fiji. My connection to Dallas got delayed by an hour. I missed my connection to Fiji. Because of this, I got my whole trip refunded LOL)

A week before flying out, the proposal papers had yet to be signed. Kid you not, Babs signed them a day before the proposal. There had been a delay with the lady who was coordinating everything because she had been sick for a while and hadn't been working.

I flew to Aruba 2 days earlier because I wanted to relax before the craziness. Plus, I figured, the crazy jet lag would have been annoying. A couple of extra days of sleeping would do me great. Little did I know, sleeping wasn’t in the books. I wanted to spend as much time as possible awake with my family and enjoying the Caribbean.

Once I landed, I waited for Orysell, my cousin, at the airport. She was another part of the surprise proposal. You can only imagine my excitement. Seeing my sister, Babs, and my cousin after almost 2 years without seeing them. I was over the moon!

When I hugged Orysell, I started bawling. That first familial hug was legendary. The others to come, even better. Ory and I spent the first 2 days by the beach, catching up, sipping daiquiris. We swam all day and danced all night. Just like old times, it felt like no time had passed.

The day of the proposal, the adrenaline was at an all-time high. We kept tracking Ivets and Babs through FindMy. We went on an afternoon jog, but kept looking over our shoulders every few minutes, with fear that they were going to drive by. After the jog, we got acai bowls and then headed back to the house where we started getting ready. When I have to wash and curl my hair, I usually take about an hour to an hour and a half (if I take my sweet time) to get ready. Since I had braids, I only needed like forty minutes. Ory, on the other hand, takes years!!!!

When we arrived at the restaurant, they were still setting up. The setup had the “Marry Me” letters. Each letter had to be pushed down, one by one, into the sand. I started to panic because they were supposed to be arriving in 40 minutes. We got to the restaurant, which was on the beach. I was wearing my little black heels and kept sinking into the sand. I took them off and stayed barefoot. Valery, the coordinator, was walking up and down giving directions. We chatted for a bit, and she told me that everything was going according to plan for the setup. As for the photographer, he was running late. She told me to text Babs to come in 15 minutes later. I texted him and, of course, started to panic again.

To entertain myself, Ory and I started looking for places to hide. We kind of had an idea, but not really. I knew Ivets was not going to be able to see us because she uses glasses (I made sure to tell Babs to make sure she didn’t wear them). However, I was wearing a dress that she would have recognized from a mile away, even without the glasses on. That and my braids. Because of this, I wanted to hide in a room. Ory was getting annoyed at me because I kept stressing her out. First, with my dress, she was like, “If you were afraid for her to see you in the dress, why did you wear it?” Then she kept giving ideas as to where to hide, and I was like no, no, no. She says, “We should sit in one of the lounge chairs off facing the beach.” I was like, “No, that’s not going to work; she will recognize me.” We started arguing back and forth for like 20 minutes. She said, “You know what, do whatever you want. I am going to go to the lounge chairs because she won’t recognize me.” I said fine, and then went to hide where I thought was the best hiding spot, in between 2 stacks of chairs with a coconut tree in the middle. I squatted and put a beach towel on top of my head.

The minutes passed by, and it felt like forever. Someone came and told me they had arrived. I looked back, and I saw them at the entrance. I started to tear up. The photographer had yet to arrive because of traffic. One of the waiters told them that their table was not ready, so he gave them a “tour.” Kid, you not, about 15 minutes pass,ed and I'm like this is starting to get sus. Not only was this “tour” extra long for no reason, but the “your table is not ready” was looking like a stretch because the restaurant was not as packed, and there were a couple empty tables.

When the photographers finally arrived, the waiter sat my sister and Babs next to their actual table. Babs then pointed to the engagement setup, and he said, “Na, I want to sit there.” My sister started laughing.

I, of course, was already crying. As soon as they entered the restaurant, I was bawling. The sight of my sister really broke me down. All I wanted to do was run up to her and hug her. However, I had to contain my excitement in order to not ruin the surprise. So what did I do? I started to record silly videos and voice memos for them to see later lol.

Babs led Ivets to the front of the setup. Declared his love to her. The speech took a good 5 minutes. We were all like “DAMN! He has so many things to say!” Then he got on one knee and asked, “Will you marry me?” Ivets the whole time couldn't stay still. She was cheesing, laughing, and very giddy. Finally she nodded and said, “Yes!” Everyone in the restaurant started to cheer. I, of course, cheered and clapped in my hiding spot.

When we were looking for spots to hide, we were also thinking of how we were going to surprise her. We were thinking of just popping up and yelling surprise. Or maybe sit at their table and have them walk over to us after the photoshoot. The lady that was in charge of the decorations said, “When the photographer takes them to take photos by the water, you go and surprise her then.”

After the yes, the photographer led them towards the water. The lady says, “Ven, ven, date rapido.” Come, come, hurry up. I ran, almost tripping on my long dress. As fast as I was, I started to run directly in front of the letters, but then realized that she was going to see me right away. I did an about-face, and then started to run behind the letters. I finally reached her, with my phone in my hands recording, crying, and just stood there.

It took her kid you not at least 5 seconds to realize that I was there. Babs was laughing, because even he could't believe that even from 3 feet away, she couldn't see me. He points at me and says, “Look!” She then turns her head and screams, “Yerika!!!” We hear laughs, cheers, and someone saying, “Son hermanas. No se han visto en casi 2 años.” They are sisters. They haven’t seen each other in almost 2 years.” We hugged. The best hug I had received in so long. I try to look at her eyes, but she was wearing her sunglasses. I took them off, and her eyes were so glossy, full of tears. Her mascara was all over the place. I thought, “Thank God I brought my concealer to fix this hehehe”

From there, we took hundreds of photos and videos. After the proposal, we sat at the table and had dinner. We caught up. Talked about the crazy journey it took to get there. About all the planning it took for the proposal to happen. All the fun we were about to have. I looked at Babs and said, “We did it!”

Planning a proposal was a lot of work lol. I never thought I was ever going to be in that position; contacting vendors, arranging times, budgeting, blablablabla. I never thought I was ever going to get the inside scoop on how crazy it gets. I figured since one day I am the one that will eventually get asked, never in a million years I thought I was going to get the inside scoop. Well, let me tell you. Proposing and doing it right takes time, consideration, coordination, discipline, understanding, patience, and of course initiviate.

I will forever be eternally grateful to Babs for trusting me to help him out with this. Seeing how much he loves Ivet’s really makes my soul happy.

Now, if you are thinking of proposing and need help, I can help :)

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this entry. If you have any questions or would like to talk, please hit the chat.

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 Stay tuned for my next blog - > It Has Been Dark

XOXO Yerika