Christina & Avdi

The moment she said “yes!”

It was a beautiful, warm early summer evening in Istanbul. I had got a message from Avdi, a fantastic Albanian man who was dating my dear friend, Christina. He was ready to pop the question, and he had a grand plan.

His plan included a whole party of people, her father flying over from America to surprise her, and a big fancy dinner to follow.

I met the party of people who were also in on the scheme at a hotel in Fatih, Istanbul— quite close to the waterfront. They finished designing a fancy sign; then, we collected Christina’s dad and all snuck out to the proposal spot, hiding of course along the way.

Avdi had sneakily framed the evening with Christina as a chill dinner with him and his brother, so she really had no idea. We saw them from a distance and snuck to get closer.

The idea was that Christina’s dad would walk casually along the waterfront toward them and when Christina got confused and surprised at her dad, Avdi would get on his knees and propose. You know, just adding surprise on top of surprise. All of the emotions.

As you can see, the plan was a pretty grand success! Christina’s dad popped out an iPad he was apparently calling her mom on too, so she could see both her parents at once.

After she got over the shock factor, she did in fact say yes!

It was so sweet to see a big party of people all come together to make this surprise happen. So much love was shared, and Christina was absolutely glowing!