Photo: Barry Winiker / The Image Bank / Getty Images
To kick off the holiday season, the 74-foot Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was illuminated on December 4 with 50,000 vibrant lights and topped with a Swarovski crystal star in New York City. For one couple, this iconic location became the ideal setting for a memorable proposal under the massive Norway Spruce, just moments after the tree’s grand lighting ceremony.
At around 8 p.m. on December 6, Philip Cho, 32, surprised his girlfriend of six years, Heather Nguyen, 29, with a proposal she never expected.
Before the big moment, Nguyen—who currently works in cinema advertising and previously was a flight attendant—had been attending a reunion for airline crew members in Thailand. During her trip, Cho sent a text, telling her he had planned a "romantic date" upon her return and asked her to reserve the weekend for a special occasion.
Is spending $1,650 for a 5-minute proposal too extravagant?
"I said, 'Sure, love!' and didn't think anything of it until I got back to the states," Nguyen recalls. "Because at that point, that was all I thought it was. Just a little loving date."
On the night of the proposal, Cho asked Nguyen to dress warmly but kept the rest of the details a mystery.
"We're running late due to holiday traffic, wiggling through the crowd to get to the rink. There are thousands of people," Nguyen says. "We are elbow to elbow with people, moving to the rink so I realize, we're going ice skating!"
Around 40 minutes into their ice skating session, an announcement was made that the rink needed to be cleared for new ice.
"Everyone’s skating off but Phil asks a worker, 'Is it all right if we get a picture?' He’s so nice and says he’ll take a few. A few become many and we’re the last ones on the rink," Nguyen says. "I turn to Phil nervously and say, 'Babe, are you sure we shouldn’t get off? We’re last.' The over-thinker in me is thinking we’re about to get in trouble or kicked off, but the worker keeps snapping away so we keep laughing and posing."
In an instant, bright lights illuminated the couple, and Nguyen's favorite song, "Enchanted" by Taylor Swift, started to play.
"Phil pulls me in and I already see tears pouring down his face, body slightly shaking (from the cold? I’m not sure)," Nguyen says. "'And it was enchanting to meet you…' plays so loudly as I look around at the thousands of people surrounding the rink. Phil points over and the biggest signs appear spelling, 'WILL YOU MARRY ME?' I’m so far in the middle, I don’t even realize until after, it’s my South Carolina family and friends and NYC loved ones holding each of the letters!"
Cho had spent nearly two months organizing the proposal, which involved countless hours of planning, secret trips to the airport, and a year of turning down guys' nights to save up. The grand moment cost him $1,650 for five minutes of exclusive use of The Rink at Rockefeller Center.
He opted for the rink's "Special Moments" package, which provided two VIP skating tickets (with skate rentals included) and the chance to choose a song to play during the proposal..
The most memorable part of the moment was having 27 of their closest friends and family there to witness it, with many traveling from South Carolina, Nguyen's hometown.
"I lost it when I found out," the bride-to-be says. "I just know they dropped everything to be here."
After getting down on one knee, Cho held his girlfriend's hands and gave "the most thoughtful, heartbreaking, heart healing speech that [she'll] remember forever." It included wisdom about love that his late grandmother, Halmeoni, gave him.
Nguyen immediately began to cry.
Heather Nguyen proudly displays her new engagement ring.
"I don’t think he even gets to the 'marry me' part before I scream from my diaphragm a huge 'YESSS!!' My whole heart feels like it’s bursting and the room feels like it’s raining and exploding all at the same time," she says. "The crowd echoes in applause and the peak of Taylor Swift’s 'Enchanted' hits. The timing was unreal."
She continues: "I feel our lips crash into each other and I flick my leg up like a Disney princess. I was blown away. It still feels like something I dreamed because of how surprised I was."
Following the proposal, the couple was greeted with cheers and well wishes.
Cho and Nguyen, who met on the dating app Tinder, are considering eloping at New York City Hall and having a fun photoshoot with friends within six months. In a year, they hope to have "a huge, epic Vietnamese and Korean modern wedding ceremony and reception in South Carolina."
Source: People