SYDNEY + SOMNANG

photo | Emily Chappell Photography

SYDNEY + SOMNANG

Boat proposal in the Philippines 

We were on our first trip together over international waters visiting my family in the Philippines. Part of the family vacation was enjoying Coron, Palawan – a really beautiful cluster of islands! He proposed on the first day of island hopping, at the very last stop for the day: Twin Lagoon.

Our tour guide had been taking amazing, Instagram-worthy photos of our family all day, even using props and helping us pose! I didn’t think twice when we approached Twin Lagoon and he started giving Duke and I instructions for a unique photo he had in mind. Duke and I got into our pose at the bow of the boat but when I turned around, there he was on one knee, asking me to marry him, in front of my entire family! If anyone knows anything about me it’s that I love the ocean and I love my family. It was truly the perfect proposal!

To keep it secure, he didn’t open the ring box until we were back in the middle part of the boat. He opened it. I looked at the ring and then out at the ocean. The color-matched exactly, a beautiful Deep Teal Sapphire. Everything about the proposal was entirely “me” and I’m so grateful to have found my soulmate who knows and loves me so completely and fully.