San Francisco Proposal || Lands End Engagement
It’s official! My partner of over eight-and-a-half years proposed on July 11th at Lands End in San Francisco. Two dogs and five cities later, we said yes to spending the rest of our lives together! Things really do happen in mysterious ways.
Andy and I met at UCSB when I was a freshman and he was a junior. We officially started seeing each other after a series of dates during winter break, December of 2011. We were with each other through all the ups and downs. We even made long distance relationship work when I went to the Netherlands for a year-long study abroad program. We traveled around Europe together when Andy flew over to the Netherlands during the winter holidays. After my graduation, we moved up to San Francisco to start another chapter of our lives. And the next thing we know, we almost spent a decade of our lives with one another.
ENGAGEMENT PLANNING
Prior to the proposal, Andy and I had already discussed marriage and our future together. We went ring shopping in August 2019 and visited way too many shops. Andy found a jeweler in San Francisco to work with, a women-owned (mother and daughter) jewelry business named California Girl Jewelry. Andy coordinated with CGJ on getting the ideal neon blue Paraíba tourmaline, I helped with the overall design (18K minimalist setting with F color, VS clarity diamonds). Once we were happy with the mock-up, it was all in Andy’s court! I already knew that the engagement ring was finalized and that Andy went to pick it up. The only unknowns were when and how he would go about popping the question.
Andy connected with some of our closest friends in San Francisco to help craft the proposal. They are folks that we’ve interacted before and during the pandemic. The ring stayed with one of our friends, so I wouldn’t be tempted to find it in our home or accidentally find it while cleaning. The pandemic and quarantine did make it difficult and challenging to keep the proposal a secret; major props to everyone for keeping it a surprise! Andy and I are constantly with each other 24/7 while we’re home majority of the time and we always know each other’s location. I mentioned that I wanted the proposal to include a beautiful view with our dogs. How on Earth can Andy make this a surprise proposal?
Well, it all happened on a Saturday.
The proposal
Andy and I made plans with our friends, Yoojin and Troy, the previous week about going to Lands End for a morning hike. That morning (July 11th, 2020), Andy told me he was too tired from sleeping late to go hiking with us. “I’m going to stay at home, I slept at 4AM last night and I’m really tired,” he told me. I bought his excuse and left the house with Cooper. Sachi stayed back with Andy, I did offer to take her but he said she can stay at home with him. Then I drove to Yoojin and Troy. Meanwhile, Andy was frantically getting ready to go to Lands End. Another of our friends, Pearl, was around the corner of our house in her car waiting for me to leave so that she can drive Andy to the proposal location. It was a good thing I didn’t end up turning back around!
Once I picked up Yoojin and Troy at their home, we were on our way to Lands End and arrived at around 10AM in the parking lot next to Sutro Bath. We went to get coffee at Lookout Cafe, since Yoojin mentioned that she wanted coffee from there. I chatted with Troy about random things and taught him how to properly use a shoulder bag, he was trying to figure out how to wear Yoojin’s bag. We then started our hike! I had absolutely no idea at this point that there was going to be a proposal since I was mainly focused on making sure Yoojin and Troy had a good time. At the beginning of our hike, we almost went all the way down to Sutro Bath but I mentioned that it would be better to go on our way back. We ended up walking back to the main Lands End trail and made our way towards the labyrinth. We made a few pit stops to check out the view and talked about sea birds, as we noticed there was a flock of pelicans flying. I noticed that Yoojin was checking her phone a lot (more often than usual), so I was suspicious but didn’t dwell too much on it. Cooper was enjoying himself on the hike, it was a familiar stomping ground for him and he was ecstatic to be out and about.
In order to get to the labyrinth, you walk about 1 mile into the Lands End trail and on the second clearing, there are wooden stairs going down on your left. At the bottom of the stairs, you can either go left, which will take you to Mile Rock Beach, or right, which will take you to the Lands End lookout. I told Yoojin to go right but apparently, that was the path that I wasn’t supposed to take (wink wink). Yoojin said she was unsure about the path we took and that she didn’t want to trip on her ankle. I told her that she’ll be fine and I focused on watching her steps to make sure she doesn’t fall. All the while, the proposal crew was frantically switching position because they caught wind of me going the opposite direction of what they initially planned.
As we got close to the labyrinth, I noticed a familiar corgi from the distance. It looked like Bailey and it turned out to be him! At this moment, I was starting to suspect something. Cooper greeted Bailey and I talked briefly to my friend, Karen, holding a bouquet of flowers with her husband. She sounded nervous and I was questioning her about the flowers. When I asked her what brought her to Lands End, she said she wanted to get some fresh air and do a pregnancy photoshoot. Yoojin, on the other hand, was waiting for me awkwardly in the middle of the labyrinth. Yoojin wanted to take a photo together so I walked over to her and right at this moment, I knew what was going to happen next.
“So why are you in the middle of the labyrinth? Why are you smiling? Is someone about to come up to me from behind? Who is behind me? What’s going on?” These were my rhetorical questions and as I turned around, I saw Andy. He was wearing his fancy brown shoes and was definitely not at home, sleeping in. Yoojin walked out of the labyrinth with Cooper, who refused to leave my side at first but after a few tugs, he followed Yoojin.
Andy got on his knee (!) and pull out the ring box while I took off my mask. Then, he finally asked:
Kim…we've been together for 8 and a half years, almost as long as Sirius Black waited in Harry Potter’s Prisoner of Azkaban. I see you as my best friend and soulmate, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you spend the rest of your life with me?
And I said YES!
Andy handed me the entire ring box. “Wait, I think you’re supposed to put the ring on my finger,” I said and started laughing even more. I finally took notice of all our closest friends that were there as well and they caught the whole thing! Taido was our videographer and Yen was our photographer. Both of them did a stupendous job at staying incognito because I did not take notice of them until I looked further. Betty, Pearl, and Markus were at the lookout from above with Sachi; they came down after Andy did his proposal. Karen and Dova, Bailey’s corgparents, were already there on the same level as us and they took photos and videos too. Karen and Bailey were our first friends in San Francisco when we moved up, it warmed my heart that they got to be there for our proposal at Lands End. And due to the pandemic, my two best friends couldn’t take part but they phoned in to watch! I excitedly let them know that I am engaged through Pearl’s phone.
I don’t think I have ever felt such an insurmountable feeling of happiness overflowing from within. It truly was amazing and I could not have asked for anything better. It was perfect.
It was an absolutely beautiful day out in San Francisco, albeit it being windy for the most part and not having good reception. Otherwise, it was really the perfect day. We had a mini photoshoot and made sure to get a group photo of everyone. Following the proposal, we all headed out of Lands End and went to U:Dessert for celebratory brunch. Andy and I made sure to call our family right away to let them know the good news.
I was hoping for a July proposal and glad that it didn’t happen later, the anticipation was getting to me! To think, I almost rage quit on my nails the night before because I had really thought it was going to happen in August. Really glad I held out for another week! I had hope that it was going to happen soon.
This is only part of the beginning and I am stoked for what’s to come next. During this wild and uncertain times, I am over the moon to have Andy, our pups, and amazing friends in my life to go through it all. I definitely wouldn’t want it any other way.
Here are some fun tidbits I learned from our friends as they were planning this day:
Yen was the ring keeper, she thought she lost the ring the day before the proposal because Markus decided to play a trick on her by hiding the ring
Taido and Betty got to Lands End really early and thought they missed the proposal because no one was there (yet)
Karen and Dova was afraid of running into me and Cooper in the parking lot and on the way to the labyrinth
Pearl did location scouting to find the ideal spot, she went to multiple places and had sneakily asked me about good hiking spots in San Francisco
Well, that was our proposal story!
Everyone who took part of our proposal did their due diligence to minimize the spread of COVID19 by wearing mask and practicing physical distancing.