When a couple is getting ready to take their relationship to the next level, it can leave one of them feel like they’re walking a tightrope.
After all, even when it happens in a private, intimate setting, proposing marriage is always going to carry some emotional risk and pressure. That pressure is a major reason why it’s rarely a good idea to do this in public , but it can simply be devastating when it doesn’t go the way that anyone expects .
It’s for this reason that some partners will take their time finding the right opportunity to do it, while others will put their stress and excitement into a grand statement that shows how deeply they’ve been thinking about the day they pop the question.
And while that’s a good way to describe one man’s strategy, his beloved also can’t say he didn’t prepare her for that magic moment.
Back in June, Jaiden Bourgeois of southern Louisiana uploaded a TikTok detailing a quirky move her boyfriend Chase Maddox has pulled since their relationship began.

As we can see, he has a habit of creating a makeshift engagement ring out of either a paper napkin or a plastic straw wrapper any time they ate out.
But while this was a unique and endearing practice, it almost didn’t happen at all.
Because when Bourgeois first met Maddox in early 2018 after her mom introduced them, there really weren’t any sparks.

But as the couple told WGNO, her mom apparently wasn’t giving up and gave Maddox Bourgeois’s number anyway.
And while it didn’t take long for Maddox to start his little paper engagement ring tradition, Bourgeois had a warning for him when they started dating.
As she put it, “If you ever put me on a billboard, I’m breaking up with you!”
And as the couple got to know each other over the next three-and-a-half years, they drew closer as each of those meals together passed.

And eventually, those engagement rings became less of a playful tradition and more of a lead-up to a genuine proposal.
That is, until June 26 rolled around and Bourgeois suddenly found herself with a ring on her finger that wasn’t made of paper or plastic.
And apparently, they had spent enough time together that she grew to feel differently about her old billboard rule.
Because after Maddox revealed what he had really been doing when he claimed to be working one of his shifts at Lamar Advertising, Bourgeois said yes.
And while Maddox still puts paper engagement rings on her finger, he now does it over the real one.
In Bourgeois’ words, “We’ve spent the last 3.5 years figuring ourselves out as individuals and as a couple. Growing and learning (and growing and learning some more) every single day.”
h/t: WGNO