They talked through the app for a couple of weeks.  She later told Justin that she thought he would stop talking to her because after he asked her about her favorite restaurants in the area and she wrote a five page answer, it took him a very long time to respond (because he was at work). After being thoroughly impressed by her restaurant knowledge, Justin decided to give her his number and he put it on her to reach out first (which I thought was a power move). 

 

Although I thought I was being smooth, she did not reach out for a week. When she finally did reach out, we decided to meet up at a local restaurant in Baltimore for dinner. Sadly, the restaurant has since closed, but the owners sent us a menu as a keepsake. 

 

That night, we ended up talking so much that we kept forgetting to look at the menu to pick out our food for almost the first hour (we had to keep telling our waitress to come back every five minutes). When we did order, I asked Yelena if she wanted to split my sandwich (I ordered a Cuban), which was part of my sneaky way to get half of her panini. Although most people would think sharing food on a first date is weird, neither of us gave it a second thought. We ended up staying out for 4 hours and we’ve been talking or hanging out every day since then. The first date was on January 9, 2019, we made it “official” in early March, we moved in together in February 2020, and we were engaged on October 17, 2020. 

 

The Proposal

 

In late summer of 2020, I began shopping for an engagement ring. You would not believe how aggressive jewelry store employees are in trying to sell you a terrible diamond for a lot of money. I found the perfect ring in the middle of September and placed the order that had an ETA of four weeks out. In the meantime, I had to pretend that nothing was afoot. I knew that I had to plan a surprise proposal while having it documented by a photographer. This was to be no small feat as 1) Yelena always knows more than she will admit; 2) I knew she would think something was strange if I randomly told her she had to dress up out of the blue, especially in the middle of a pandemic; and 3)  it would be hard to find a photographer willing to wear camo and hide in a bush to take candid photographs. 

 

I then had an idea that would satisfy the need for secrecy, as well as serve as an effective cover story for being photographed. A little background - we have a food and travel blog together, so we sometimes receive requests to promote brands and photographers on Instagram.  I knew that I had to use this as the basis for the surprise proposal. I told Yelena I was asked to promote a photographer on Instagram, and for this specific shoot she had to put on a nice dress because the photographer wanted a fancier shoot for the  promotion I was peddling. I then told the photographer to send me a private message to say she’s excited to work with me for the Instagram promotion so I could show Yelena and assuage any suspicion. It also randomly turned out that the day after the ring was delivered Yelena was getting her hair done.  Everything was coming together perfectly.

 

Once the big day arrived, we got to the location in the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore. The photographer started by taking a few fake photos while explaining to us what she wanted for the promotion. I could not wait any longer, so I quickly dropped down to one knee and proposed. I had told the photographer I would give her a signal, so she could videotape it, but I moved way too fast. We did get some great in the moment photos. I then took Yelena out to the Bygone restaurant in the Four Seasons, overlooking all of Baltimore for dinner. The night ended with a surprise celebration with some local friends at a restaurant.