Wedding Date on Sep 5, 2019

One Saturday night in Sydney, Jasmine Garnsworthy, the creator of two content-driven brands called the Buff and Fairwell, walked into a bar for a blind date with a British man. “While looking for my date, I locked eyes with a man fitting the description,” Jasmine remembers. “I struck up a conversation, but quickly realized that I was having a drink with the wrong guy—he was clearly Australian and had the wrong accent!” She excused herself and eventually located the mystery Brit, only to find the two of them had zero chemistry. “I kept thinking about the first guy and clearly Steve [Gafen] was thinking about me too because he tracked me down via a string of mutual acquaintances.” They’ve been together ever since. The two had been dating for six years when Steve—who is a project manager within the property industry—proposed. “The engagement ring arrived on a Thursday, and wanting to keep the proposal a surprise, the ring box lived inside my tennis shoe at the back of our wardrobe for a couple of days,” Steve remembers. He wanted to propose near the water and thought he’d landed on the perfect spot near their home in New York City—a tiny park on the East River overlooking the Manhattan skyline—only to realize it was a bit too tourist-filled for the occasion. “Wanting something a little more private, I switched to a location a few minutes further up the river,” Steve says. “My only challenge was getting Jasmine to this spot on a Sunday morning without raising suspicions.” Luckily, an old high school friend of Steve’s was staying at their place over the weekend for a mutual friend’s wedding. “I decided he’d be the perfect decoy,” Steve jokes. “I let him in on the secret. My plan was to tell Jasmine that he was taking us out for brunch to thank us for letting him stay and that he would meet us at the restaurant. I sent him armed with a bottle of Champagne to La Nonna—the closest restaurant to the proposal spot and where I’d briefed the maître d’.” So on Sunday, Jasmine and Steve woke up and walked into the restaurant and gave their friend’s name for the reservation. The maître d’, looking at her screen, said that their friend had actually booked at their sister restaurant La Nonna Aqua (a fictitious eatery) only two minutes away, right by the water. They were running late at that point, so Jasmine hurried ahead. “She walked past the proposal spot, and I had to catch up to her as she reminded me that we were running late,” Steve says. “The next minute or two were a blur, but as Jasmine turned around I dropped to my knee to ask her to marry me. I was shaking, and so happy. I knew this moment was coming but nothing prepared me for it.” Understandably, Jasmine was even more surprised. They kissed, and shortly after, their friend arrived with a bottle of Champagne.