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My boyfriend Ryan and I had been dating just shy of five years. We both knew that we wanted to get married but he claimed the timing wasn't right because...

He claimed the timing wasn't right because we were still in college. Ryan continuously made comments to make me feel that we weren't going to get engaged anytime soon.

He repeatedly said, that we would ask my parents' permission before he went back to school in the fall. Little did I know the ring had already been bought along with the blessing of both our parents.

The first week of August his family always rents a beach house in Del Mar, California. Ryan wanted to go down a day early, and so I decided to drive with him. The next day Ryan informed me that later he had a surprise for me. We hadn't been on a nice date in a while, so I assumed that was my surprise. Knowing that Ryan hadn't spoken to my father yet threw out the possibility of engagement that had quickly entered my mind.

We drove to a simple shopping center with no evidence of what my surprise entailed. I was starting to get disappointed because I though we were going on a romantic date until suddenly a truck pulled up carrying a huge basket in the bed of its truck, and I realized we were going on a hot-air balloon ride.

Ryan knew that going in a hot-air balloon was one of my life long dreams. But I still just thought it was just a romantic date that Ryan had planned for me, not my engagement. High above the beach of Del Mar, just at sunset, he got down on his knee in the tiny balloon basket and asked me to marry him. I was so shocked, I couldn't remember if I had even given him an answer. It was like a dream come true.

Ryan told me after the balloon ride he had had the ring for three months and had already received my parents' permission back in June. For the past two months, he had been trying to throw me off -- that we weren't getting engaged until Christmas or later. He wanted the whole engagement to be a surprise, and it was!

After our balloon ride he said he had one more surprise for me. He took me to dinner to continue our magical night, but once we got inside both of our families were there. I was so thrilled my mom and dad were there to share the moment with us. Our mothers had also planned us an engagement party that took place the following weekend with all our close family and friends.

My engagement was something I have dreamed about since I was a little girl and having the whole thing be a surprise made it all the better. My fiancé incorporated some of my lifelong dreams into his plan, which made the experience beyond magical, and a night I will never forget.