We love a great proposal story out at sea, don’t you? When we heard their sweet story, we knew that we wanted to feature Lisa & Nick’s Royal Caribbean Cruise marriage proposal story.
Share with us when and how you met each other.
Nick and I met through mutual friends. He was interested so he asked for my number. I didn’t know him so I didn’t feel a connection over texting. He asked me out on a date a few weeks later. I decided to meet up with him over at Mr. Cool Ice Cream and Boba Tea after work one day. I didn’t expect it to go anywhere but I was surprised once we started talking as we shared our rolled ice cream.
I felt comfortable around him and we instantly hit it off. It felt like we’d known each other for a long time, perhaps we met in a previous life! We continued our evening having drinks over at Rocco’s Tacos. Nick shared that he recently adopted a cat a few months ago and named her after Lisa Simpson. I giggled at the fact that his cat and I shared the same name! She did not accept me at first, I want to say it was jealousy that her dad split half of his attention to me. Over time she started to accept the fact that I would be around.
What are your favorite things to do together as a couple?
We have an active lifestyle as a couple! Nick and I travel often, take fitness classes as well, and run a couple of Disney races. We have our first marathon coming up in January which we are excited for! Besides the active lifestyle, we are also huge foodies. We love to explore and find authentic restaurants. I prefer Asian food personally so we do find a lot more Asian restaurants to go to!
How long were you together before getting engaged?
A little over four years
Share your marriage proposal story…
Nick had a plan to propose to me on our Royal Caribbean cruise last November. A month before we lost our dog Carter to a hit-and-run. We were in mourning as we both felt guilty as he was only 7 years old and only had him for two years. He was the best dog as he came into our lives at the beginning of Covid. He was a show dog at Seaworld for five years and got released due to the world shutting down. He made us so happy during the two years he was with us. Nick asked me a few days before our cruise if I felt I was in a place to get engaged. I told Nick that Carter wouldn’t want us to wait and to live our lives.
It was a sea day on November 8. We had a sushi-tasting event for lunch and right after we were out on the pool deck. Nick excused himself to the restroom and he was gone for an hour. During that time he rushed down to guest services to request a photographer for the surprise proposal. That evening it was formal night so normally they don’t release any photographers but the Photography Manager stepped in to take photos. We were the last family to be seated at Giovanni’s Table so for the last hour it was just us in the restaurant. I wasn’t feeling that well during dinner due to what I ate during lunch. So I felt terrible I couldn’t eat all the delicious Italian meals served in front of us.
I noticed a photographer coming into the restaurant but I didn’t think too much of it. I figured he was coming in to reset his camera. After a while, I looked back and saw he was fidgeting with his camera. I thought that was weird and so I looked over at Nick’s pocket. I noticed a box shape in his pocket. I shook the idea off thinking it’s not happening in here. The next thing I knew, the photographer came to take pictures of us. I thought this was normal since everyone gets their pictures taken during dinner on a cruise ship!
The next thing I knew, Nick slid off his seat and proposed to me. I started laughing at the fact that I dismissed my suspicion earlier. So it definitely caught me off guard! Nick shared right after the proposal that he showed the ring to Carter a couple of months ago. Carter sniffed the ring and wagged his tail with approval for Nick. This engagement ring means so much to me that Carter’s seal of approval is on this ring. And I felt that Carter was with us in spirit celebrating.
What was the best moment of the Royal Caribbean cruise marriage proposal?
Just being caught off guard and thinking of our late dog Carter.
Who did you tell that you were engaged first?
I Facetimed my sister Luna the next day in Jamaica on our all-inclusive beach excursion. I didn’t expect her to pick up since she is a first-grade teacher. She picked up and I heard kids playing in the background. Luna didn’t notice I had my hand up right away so she was confused why I called her. It eventually hit her as she looked closer and she was excited for me! She told all her first graders right away that I was engaged and they all started cheering for me. They all said congratulations and I felt touched that she involved her class!
Tell us about the ring!
Nick chose the ring for me. He went with an AAPI business, “With Clarity” which is lab-made diamonds. He picked this ring because he said it reminded him of me as it is part of my profession. I was formally Mulan in The Golden Mickey’s aboard the Disney Wonder and I was a stunt performer for LEGOLAND in their Ninjago show. So the sharpness reminded him of my warrior background. Fun fact, my family was a part of a Samurai clan back in the day!
I learned that I need to not pick battles with my family. To accept what they want in a wedding. It was a tough pill to swallow but I learned to accept it and move on.
Finding a venue to do a food tasting together recently!
What are you most excited about wedding planning?
I love that I get to use my planning skills for our wedding. It’s been fun reaching out to vendors in the process. We are just missing one thing which is the cake. We are planning to go to Tours Les Jours to request a custom-made wedding cake soon.
If you’ve already decided, when are you getting married and what is your venue?
Casa Feliz 12/3/23 and Tokyo, Japan March 2024
Why did you choose that venue?
I’ve been following Casa Feliz for a few years on Instagram. I instantly fell in love with the wedding venue right away as it shares so much history in Winter Park.
We are also having a wedding in Tokyo, Japan to visit my family. We didn’t invite them to our wedding in December as flights are expensive and due to my grandparent’s age. It would be easier for us to go there and it will be Nick’s first time meeting my family in Japan! I haven’t seen them since 2018 and I was on a cruise line contract in 2019. The world shut down in 2020 so it’s been impossible for us to get to Japan sooner. I am so excited to see them again in March, it’s been way too long! I am also excited to wear a traditional wedding Kimono with Nick!
73 for Casa Feliz and for Japan it will be just my family.
We’ve cut down a lot on our spending this year. I was also out of work for a few months due to an accident so it set me back a bit. But I am back to work now and started picking up overtime to help with the wedding costs!
It’s going to be a Christmas-themed wedding. So there will be colors of green, red & white mixed in for decorations.
Have you selected any other vendors for your wedding?
💚 Venue: Casa Feliz @casafelizvenue
💚 Catering: Arthurs Catering @arthurscatering
💚 DJ: Junction 88 @junction_88
Photography: SMO Photography LLC @smophotographyllc
Videography: Maiography Wedding Videographer @mai.ography
Florist: Lee Forrest Design @LeeForrestDesign
Hair and Makeup: Kristy’s Artistry Design Team @kristryartistrydesignteam
Dessert: Kelly’s Homemade Ice Cream @kellyshomemadeicecream
Musician: Amy Xaychaleune @sunshinetimeproductions
Rentals: EventWorks Orlando @eventworksrentals
Wedding Dress: Bridal Gallery of Orlando @bridalgalleryoforlando
*Engagement Party we had a boba bar from Dang Boba & Musubi House @dangbobamusubihouse*
I highly recommend hosting an engagement party. I had to also move a few vendors to our engagement party since my parents didn’t want to have a photo booth or boba bar. Our engagement party felt like a wedding reception. I felt satisfied that I had my dream ideas here, especially the boba bar! We had last-minute cancellations which was stressful to deal with. So we took them off the list as we haven’t sent out their invites yet. I didn’t want to deal with that last-minute cancellation again on the day of the wedding. We felt that we were able to find who we could trust when making the rest of our wedding invite!
Also, we decided not to have a wedding party for our wedding as we did not feel comfortable bringing financial burden for our friends. We rather they enjoy the wedding instead of feeling stressed. Nick and I only have one sister so it made sense to have “Sister of the Groom” and “Sister of the Bride” instead of having the traditional title of “Best Man” and “Maid of Honor”. So don’t worry about following “tradition”! Make it your version 🙂
Congratulations Lisa & Nick on your Royal Caribbean cruise marriage proposal!
Want to feature your proposal? CLICK HERE to submit your story!
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