Nearlyweds: Danielle Babos & Ryan Schmitt

Together for: 8 years

The proposal: “Ryan and I have been together for 8 years. He’s always been one to pay attention to those small details. We had planned a family trip to Florida March 2018, my brother and sister-in-law were bugging for us to take our 3 year old son to Disney world. We loved the idea but unfortunately just found it was too much and he was still very young. December 2018 we we’re surprised with Disney World tickets from them! I was so excited to be able to take our son to this magical place!

At that moment Ryan remembered one night when we first started dating I was scrolling through Pinterest (where all great ideas come from!) and I showed him this photo of a couple proposing in front of Cinderella’s Castle at Disney World. He also remembered how amazing I thought it was and how magical it would be.

In the new year he contacted his brother and told him that he wanted to propose to me at Disney World and he couldn’t think of a better time to do it. His brother and family thought it was an amazing idea. Ryan started ring shopping!

Now I’m pretty nosy and had my speculations that he was hiding something. Once we left for the trip I still felt something was off, I keep looking for hints and secret phone calls but nothing! So I let it go! Once at our Florida home with the family we all started talking where we wanted to visit and what days. My father-in-law and mother-in-law then said they wanted to come to Disney World? Which I thought was really odd as they are both homebodies and just love tanning an hanging by the pool. I didn’t think to much of it.

So fast forward to our Disney day…. ITS WAS THE COLDEST DAY OF OUR ENTIRE STAY! We were all bundled up in a bunch of long sleeve sweaters. Once at Disney World it was packed! Sooooo busy! We were all a little on edge and frustrated from all the pushing and shoving (the magic started to disappear). Regardless we made the best of it, we had lunch and noticed our son had wet his pants. Unfortunately we only had shorts and it was still very cold. We were trying to cover him with our sweaters and block the wind but he’s was not having it. At this point I was fed up and going store to store to find pants, at this point I hadn’t noticed my mother and sister-in-law had snuck off (they were finding where my fiance could propose).

After a long hard search I returned to them without pants and my sister-in-law said “Okay we have to go to this spot behind the castle! I set up family photos!” (I was still completely oblivious as I just wanted to find pants for our son). So we walked towards the castle and I saw another store so I asked to quickly run in a check, well everyone yelled “NO!” And I was so confused? They said “we need to hurry and get to the castle for photos!” So I just rolled my eyes and followed them. Once we arrived my sister in-law handed a paper to the photographer which I assume was our number to buy our photos after. So we all started taking pictures, all freezing cold and frustrated but smiling like a happy family. Then we started doing just the “couple” shots. It started with mother-in-law and father-in-law , then brother-in-law and sister-in-law, then came out turn. I grabbed my son for photos and my sister in-law yelled over “No! No! Just you two first!” So I agreed and handed him over. As soon as we stood next to each other she ran over and stood beside the photographer and pulled her phone out to start recording!

I look over at Ryan and he was already down in one knee! I WAS IN COMPLETE SHOCK! Instant ugly crying! (Keep in mind I’m wear 3 shirts, a long sleeve and a sweater! So I look puffy!!) Honestly I was completely blindsided, what started off as a not so good start to our day ended being the most magical day of my life! As soon as he proposed the sun came out, the sidewalks cleared and it ended up a beautiful day! Having my whole family there just made it even more magical and I couldn’t believe he remembered that photo from 7 years ago! It will definitely be a day I will never forget!” – Danielle