Photo:Craig Sjodin/ABC; Courtesy of Neil Lane Couture
Craig Sjodin/ABC; Courtesy of Neil Lane Couture
Warning: this post contains spoilers from Thursday’s season finale ofBachelor in Paradise
Neil Laneis once again sharing the sweet story behind the bling.
Love was in the air in Mexico on Thursday’sseason 9 finaleofBachelor in Paradise, when bothAaron Bryantand John Henry Spurlock got down on one knee and proposed to their partners —Eliza IsicheiandKat Izzo, respectively — andBachelorNation’s resident jewelermade sure to provide all the diamonds.
“Ultimately, these two kind souls were drawn to one another and Aaron wanted to find a ring that shined as perfectly and brilliantly as Eliza does,” Lane tells PEOPLE. “When he saw the emerald cut diamond ring with its classic and elegant shape and all the little diamonds sparkling he just knew that was it — it was perfection.”
Courtesy of Neil Lane Couture
The diamond ring wasn’t the only thing that made Aaron’s proposal perfect, though. He also shared with Eliza that he’d had “a great conversation” with her mom prior to asking for her hand in marriage, which left Eliza shocked.
“Eliza, I want to do this right with you,” Aaron told her as he proposed. “I understand what this means for both of us. Eliza Manola Isichei, will you marry me?”
After Eliza said “yes,” Aaron excitedly exclaimed, “I put a ring on it!”
“It’s giving fiancée!” she replied.
Aaron described his fiancé as “the most beautiful part ofParadisefor me” and he admitted, “I love everything about you, Eliza.”
His proposal, like Aaron’s, also came after he and Kat shared some time away from the cameras in the Fantasy Suites, and Kat was in shock as she told him before he asked, “I did not see this happening. I have always wanted this for myself.”
During the proposal, John Henry admitted that his “gut” told him it’s “too soon” for him to be proposing, but he wanted to “try something a little different” and “follow his heart,” so he got down on one knee.
Craig Sjodin/ABC
“My heart’s telling me that you are amazing, you are everything that I’m looking for. I really do see a future with you. I’m not falling in love, I am in love with you, too. That being said, Kat, will you marry me?”
Moments before he proposed, Kat had admitted to John Henry that she was “fully, whole-heartedly in love” with him. “Being with you, it feels like it’s a love that only comes once in a lifetime. Just know that I love you, John Henry and I want to forever,” she said.
Lane tells PEOPLE John Henry “wanted a ring that would rival Kate’s commanding presence.”
“For John Henry, the elements of the asscher cut diamond ring with the two diamond baguettes represented that stability,” Lane shares. “While their relationship had its ups and downs, ultimately he envisioned an exciting and fulfilling life with her and she could see him as her chosen family and the stability that she been searching for.”
Aaron and Eliza and John Henry and Kat’s engagements weren’t the only rings exchanged on theParadisefinale, though.
Season 7 alumsKenny BraaschandMari Pepinreturned to the beach for the first time sincetheir engagement on the showand said “I do” in front of the entire season 9 cast.
Mari’s custom-made diamond and platinum contoured wedding band hugs her 3-carat oval cut diamond engagement ring, which Lane also designed, while Kenny’s matching wedding band was handmade in platinum with a knife edge motif.
“As a couple they’re just fun loving and they had such a great time together when it came time to choose rings,” Lane tells PEOPLE. When Kenny picked out the engagement ring for his partner, Lane says he “found the oval shape sexy like Mari.”
“He loved the little diamonds around the halo, always sparkling like Mari, “ Lane shares. “He also liked the elegance and how pretty it looked.”
Lane says Mari’s wedding band was “more complicated to make” because it wraps around the halo of her diamond ring.
“It’s like this wonderful magical connection between two people that have been on a long journey searching for love and now have found it within each other,” he shares.
For his wedding band, Kenny knew he “wanted something classic with a bit of a subtle but strong design,” which led Lane to create the knife edge.
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PEOPLE previously covered awedding ceremony between Kenny and Marithat took place in Puerto Rico on Nov. 11 — a date they’d chosen as Pepin, 27, admitted, “I do believe in signs and numbers, and so 11/11 is obviously seen as a special number and it means good things.”
“As a little girl, I always dreamed of my wedding day and what’s it going to look like and what am I going to wear, but as you get older, you realize that that’s not the important part,” Mari, 27, reflected. “The important part is actually finding a person that you want to spend the rest of your life with and that you get along so well with. And it wasn’t until I met Kenny that I was like, oh yeah, I’m not thinking about that as much as this is the kind of person that I want to be with. That really made me realize that it was right.”
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She said they’d opted for a destination wedding in Puerto Rico, where a lot of her family lives, because she and Kenny, 42, wanted to keep their big day “smaller, easier to manage” and “more intimate.”
At the time, she teased “a couple other celebrations so we can include more people,” and Thursday’sParadisefinale delivered just that.
source: people.com
