You asked for it. I got permission from the bride and groom. Here it is: in the bride's words. (PS: Please don't misunderstand me. I hear a lot of proposal stories and they are all absolutely beautiful. This one just left me stunned.)
Grab a cuppa. It's a goodie.
Tyler had been planning the proposal for months, and not once did I suspect anything was going to happen. We’d planned to visit Vietnam (our 3rd trip back in less than 3 years) in December 2017 and had made all the bookings. We thought it’d be nice to go back to the Intercontinental and stay for a few nights since we loved it there so much during our first visit.
I had no idea that Tyler had been emailing the resort months ahead of schedule to organise an epic surprise proposal. He’d booked us 3 nights in a standard room at the resort, then the plan was to move to one of the larger suites for the last 3 nights, where the proposal would happen.
His original plan was for the hotel staff to call our room on the afternoon of our 4th day there to inform us that we’d been “upgraded” to a special suite. The hotel staff would then sneak into our room while we were out and fetch all the items Tyler had planned for the proposal to set it all up in the new room.
But of course, not all things go exactly to plan, and a staff member who hadn’t been informed of this grand plan accidentally called the room extra early, and I picked up the phone, very confused as to why we’d been upgraded. But I was happy to be upgraded and insisted that we move rooms immediately.
Meanwhile, Tyler is freaking out because it had not allowed for everything to be set up in the new room like he’d planned. Tyler then convinced me that we should go have lunch first and then move to our new room. The plan was back on track, and the staff were able to go into our room and move all the special props to set up for the proposal.
We came back from lunch and were escorted to our new room - and the lovely concierge who helped us move cleverly made up this story about how we were one of the lucky few guests they’d chosen each year to upgrade to their special suite. I believed it all, not realising that Tyler had been the one responsible for our upgrade!
We arrived to the new room and I was busy running around like a mad person trying to take photos and videos for Instagram. I was blown away by how gorgeous the suite was. Meanwhile, there was a bottle of champagne on the table with a handwritten note placed underneath. It was a crucial part of the proposal, so Tyler wanted me to read it aloud, and I did. But I was getting distracted by the beauty of the room and the views that I only read half of it.
Anyway, the note read: “Dear Jody and Tyler, on behalf of the Intercontinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort we hope that you enjoy your new Peninsula Suite room. To celebrate your holiday with us we would like you to please enjoy this complimentary bottle of champagne. Jody, we have also left a small gift for you in the cupboard.” Tyler had planned every detail including this note, which he’d instructed the staff to write months beforehand.
I was confused as to what the gift would be, and thought it may have been something like a nice candle as a lovely gesture from the hotel. I went to look in the cupboard and saw a beautiful white Zimmermann dress hanging in there (it was a dress that I’d been lusting after for myself). I looked at Tyler and said “wait, how did they know I like this dress??” Then I spotted something else sitting underneath the dress - a pair of stunning Chanel high heels. By this stage I’d finally put all the pieces together and looked at Tyler in shock:
“Hold on, this was all you??” He confessed that he was the one who upgraded us and explained that he wanted this trip to be extra special as it was going to being our first time celebrating Christmas together in Vietnam. To me, Tyler is such a romantic that this is the kind of thing he’d do on a regular basis, so I still didn’t think he was going to propose. Then he told me there was one more gift and that I should look under the pillows on the bed. There I found a big Dior box. I opened it and inside was a rose gold necklace that I had looked at in the store months back. I was only window shopping and I’d only posted a photo of it on my Instagram stories - but Tyler had taken note and went in store to buy that exact necklace for me. Again, just another example of his level of romantic.
So then Tyler asked me to try on the whole outfit, the dress, shoes, and necklace, to make sure it all fits and that I loved it.
He then said “there’s one more thing, although it’s more of a question”. That’s when he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.
He presented me with a rose gold diamond ring that he designed and planned out with my boss without me having a clue (it matched the rose gold necklace and rose gold detailed Chanel shoes of course). I work as a diamond merchant so for Tyler to source a diamond and create a ring on his own was already a massive task and a stressful one.
*Jody and Tyler were married at the Intercontinental Resort, Son Tra, Danang. They visited there every trip they made to Vietnam and it just made perfect wedding sense to have a wedding there. It was a beautiful day. Congratulations to you both.*
PS: I pinched the pic from Tyler's insta account, captioned "The best day of my life." Thanks Tyler and Jody for the privilege of sharing your incredible moment.