After seven years together, Jade Lily shares the unforgettable story of how Niko proposed – complete with a fake influencer trip, photoshopped emails, and one very unexpected ‘no’.
The story
Niko and I have been together for seven years. We met working in the same restaurant. When I moved to LA I was 18 and I knew I needed a job to just meet people and make some money till I figured out what I wanted to do. My dad still was friends with the owners of the restaurant and it’s where he met my mom back when it was a club (she was a bartender, he was a bouncer) so it was a hired on the spot kind of situation. I ended up having a few shifts with Niko.He was bartending and had had this job since he was 16, through high school, college, internships. He had recently graduated college and was planning to quit soon but we met right before. He acted way cooler than he actually is but I was instantly interested. He kept trying to make plans for a date and I kept coming up with excuses why I couldn’t go because I was nervous. Eventually we ended up going out and honestly just haven’t stopped ever since.
Dropping hints
This is so funny to me because I used to just off-handedly drop “when we get married” all the time before we even lived together. We just kind of always knew it would happen so it was easy to just talk about casually. We spent a while just dating, growing up, getting new jobs, moving in together, different apartments. One day I was like “ damn I know we are spending the rest of our lives together, it’s been 6 years, why aren’t we married” I literally told Niko that and that I could walk out on the street and find a man who would marry me tomorrow so what’s stopping us. That night he got in touch with the family jewellery and started designing the ring.
As far as the ring goes, I knew I wanted a toi et moi but I knew NOTHING else about rings and that’s all I told Niko. A huge part of proposing for Niko was having the ring and the engagement be a surprise so I wasn’t allowed any further in the process.
I had a lot of requirements for a proposal, but in hindsight none of it really matters that much because I was genuinely so happy. I had always wanted to get engaged somewhere warm because I hate wearing layers and I feel my best in simple clothes. I also really wanted friends and family there so we could celebrate, another reason I wanted it to be warm: I knew all of us would want to party all night! I had specific colors I wanted to wear as well and even made tiktok about it. Apparently those videos were making niko nervous because I was posting them close to when he wanted to propose and I had no idea.
The proposal
I mean this is my favourite part to talk about. Like I said, Nikos heart was set on making everything a surprise; however There was absolutely no way to get everything I wanted and make it a surprise so Niko came up with an elaborate plan. He spent a while coordinating with family and friends, finding a place to go, a hotel etc. Then he reached out to my agent where he conspired to trick me into thinking I was going on an influencer trip. My agent photoshopped emails from a hotel in Valle De Guadalupe inviting me for a complementary 3 night stay with lots of benefits included. At first I literally said no. NO! Imagine Niko hearing that from my agent… I had told Niko about the invitation and he was pressing it so hard that we should go. I was so against it because we were moving into our house 2 weeks later and I had just felt stressed about it all. We literally got in a fight about going and I was so confused why he wanted to go so bad. I ended up thinking about what Niko said in true girl fashion, ended up agreeing with him so I texted my agent giving her the go ahead. I didn’t even tell Niko I had said yes. Obviously he knew because my agent told him immediately. I told him 3 days later we were going to Valle while we were doing our walk through of our house.
Fast forward, we drive from LA to Valle De Guatelupe to the Andana Hotel. Little did I know it was the soft opening of the hotel so no one was there. Niko had told the hotel not to hand me anything with our info on it because he had paid for everything so it would say his name and cc info. When we arrived the staff was acting so weird and didn’t give me anything with welcome info like most of these trips do. We had dinner that night together and Niko couldn’t even put full sentences together. He said things like “food good” “stars look pretty”. The next day ended up being super overcast and cold so we got massages in the morning and then went horseback riding later. We started getting ready for dinner and I just had a feeling something was happening but I wasn’t sure because I still thought this was an “influencer trip” . We walked out of our hotel room and it’s a beautiful walk to the restaurant and Niko started immediately crying. On the walk he’s telling me all the romantic and beautiful things as one does in these situations when we turn the corner to the courtyard, and my mom who lives in Idaho, our friends who live in different states, his parents and lots of our family were standing in the middle cheering. I’m actually tearing up writing this. Niko got down on one knee and fished the ring box out of his boot and well I obviously I said yes.
The ring
Niko ended up designing a fully custom ring himself. I knew I wanted a toi et moi and that’s all I told him. He didn’t let me give any other input because he genuinely wanted it all to be a surprise. I still don’t even know that much about rings and I’m so happy I wasn’t part of the design process. Nothing feels more special than being loved so much that he was just able to design the perfect ring. There’s a lot of little quirks that are truly so original including a half bezel on one of the stones and his birthstone in the band which I asked for. It’s not just my ring it’s also his
Engagement party
We ended up having a private dinner with all our friends and family the night of the proposal and then we went out to a wine bar in a garlic clove in the middle of nowhere and celebrated there. I always wanted to do an engagement party but it never really happened. We moved into our house less than 2 weeks after getting engaged and we had a little housewarming that turned out way bigger and felt like an impromptu engagement party.
The outfit
I was wearing this dress with cowboy boots. I honestly feel the most comfortable in long dresses and this was my favourite colour at the time. He dropped zero hints. He didn’t really need to because he knew I was always going to bring nice pieces to a trip in a nice hotel. I also changed into this set to go out. Literally amazing and such a coincidence it was white but anyone who knows me knows I wear white all the time so it was perfect.
Wedding plans so far…
We are getting married in the summer of 2026 at my grandparents estate in northern California. It’s in an old miner town so it’s a little mix of country and redwood forests. I always describe their property as walking through the wardrobe and into Narnia. We are doing a wedding weekend so Friday night rehearsal and welcome party
Saturday is wedding day. We are doing everything completely outdoors and just moving through the property for each event; ceremony, cocktail, reception, dinner and dancing. Since the town is so old, the vision is definitely a little more vintage and whimsical inspired while still incorporating Nikos culture. We are planning a lot of little moments that spark emotion for the guests or ways to interact with people you may be meeting for the first time.
The dress code is black tie but I’m a little relaxed with certain things. Its mainly for those guests who would still show up in sneakers or a floral midi dress! I will be making a moodboard and spreadsheet with places to shop from and I don’t care one bit how high maintenance that is.
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