A woman’s best friend convinced her to take a “girls’ trip” to Paris, but realized it was a ruse when her boyfriend showed up to propose.
Alli Sims, 26, was in cahoots with her friend Freya Mohr’s fiancé Caleb Kemp, 22, to stage a surprise proposal in the French capital.
Alli convinced two of his friends to join them – under the guise of a Christmas weekend.
But they surprised 23-year-old Freya when her boyfriend, Caleb, a content and community manager, suddenly appeared on the Pont Neuf bridge and got down on one knee to propose.
Alli had all the tricks up his sleeve and convinced Freya that the reason they were getting a larger AirbnB was that the smaller one had been flooded and they were getting a free upgrade.
When in reality they needed a bigger place to accommodate Caleb and his friends as well.
After a day of touring the city and a few chance discussions of the proposals, everything was set up for Caleb to pop the question in the evening.
Alli told Freya they were crossing a bridge to go to a bar, but Caleb caught her halfway – where he asked her to marry him, and she said yes.
Alli, a fashion designer from Nashville, Tennessee, USA, who now lives in Kensington, London, said: “It was really nice.
“When Caleb surprised Freya, she was so shocked. She couldn’t believe I had upset her so much.
“We had a really amazing weekend to celebrate afterwards.
“It’s lovely because they’re both from the US and we all live in London. Caleb also brought his two best friends over from the US. It was super sweet.
“We even went to a cafe that day, and she was telling me how frustrated she was that he hadn’t proposed yet.”
Alli and his friends visited Paris for the first time in the summer – where they got matching tattoos and decided to go back and visit as often as they could.
Caleb – who was living in Paris with Freya – got in touch with Alli and planned the surprise proposal.
“I was talking with Freya’s boyfriend because he and she were living in Paris, and he wanted to surprise her there for the proposal,” Alli said.
“So he said ‘why don’t we pretend you bought tickets to Paris as an early Christmas present?’
“Then I texted him and my other friend saying ‘oh my God, I got tickets to Paris this weekend, can you go?’ Fortunately, they could.
“I had a few small hurdles to overcome to convince her that I was booking an Airbnb for three people instead of the eight we needed.
“Three days before we left, I said ‘the Airbnb was flooded so we were given a nicer one that accommodates more people’ as an excuse to get into the bigger one.
“We girls arrived at 9am and then the boys all arrived at 9pm later in the day.”
Alli and her friends spent the day sightseeing before returning to the hotel to prepare for the proposal – with Freya blissfully unconscious.
“The three of us girls travel a lot together and we usually don’t get back to the hotel until the night we leave,” Alli said.
“But I said maybe we should go back and put on something nicer.
“Freya wasn’t sure she wanted to wear something prettier and I had to really work to get her to wear that dress.”
At the right time, Alli picked a restaurant near the bridge where Caleb was going to propose and suggested they go for a drink at a bar on the other side.
She said, “I said ‘are we going to go to a bar across the bridge? to try to get her up on deck, but I had to think of a random tiller.
“So I quickly pulled out my phone and pointed to a random bar on the other side.
“Then we started to cross and suddenly he surprised her. She was crying, completely shocked and so happy. I think that was the last thing she expected.”
Caleb first approached Alli in August with his idea to propose to Freya, and the two then hatched their secret plan.
“I was super nervous but very excited,” Caleb said.
“Once I got the ring in my hands a few days before, I was calm, but on the day I felt like I was going down the hill on a rollercoaster.”
Freya added: “It was crazy, I kind of assumed he might propose soon, but I was absolutely certain it wouldn’t be this weekend.
“When Alli said we were going to a bar across the bridge, I wanted to know exactly where the bar was because it didn’t sound right, but I didn’t record anything at all.”
Caleb said: “I feel super super excited now. The engagement stage was kind of easy for me, but now we have to plan a wedding.
“I feel the same but there is a bit more affirmation because the commitment is very strong now.”
“When I imagined getting engaged, I thought I’d be nervous and excited, which I was, but it was also peaceful. Real peace. We’re super happy,” Freya added.
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