From Summer House to happily ever after!
Carl Radke and Lindsay Hubbard are planning to spend every Summer together for the rest of their lives. The Summer House stars got engaged over the weekend in an elaborate and romantic proposal at Southhampton’s Dune Beach.
Obviously, the Bravo cameras were there to catch it all on camera!
“I was so surprised; I’m still in shock!” Lindsay told PEOPLE, with Carl admitting, “It was quite the whirlwind throwing off Lindsay. She’s a tough one to catch off guard!”
Lindsay explained she believed she was going to a group bonfire but quickly noticed it seemed more like an intimate picnic for two.
“I got there and was like, ‘Umm, I’m starting to think we’re not having a bonfire,” Lindsay recalls.
“As we got there, I told her, ‘We haven’t had time to have alone time this summer, and I wanted to do something special,’ “ Carl says. “And I had the ring in a beach bag that she was carrying that I snuck in there. And she turned her back, and I figured, ‘This is my chance’ and I grabbed the ring, got down on one knee, and I turned her around and told her I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, how happy I was, and that our love story was just beginning.”
“He said, ‘Will you marry me?’ and I said, ‘A thousand times, yes!'” Lindsay gushes. “And he said, ‘Hold on, let me get the ring,’ and I was like, ‘I don’t care! When should we get married? Now? I’m ready!'”
Carl popped the question with a 3.5-carat square brilliant cut cushion diamond ring that also features two half-moon diamonds on each side from Nicole Rose.
Nicole Rose
Nicole Rose
Lindsay Hubbard Are Engaged
“This is the most incredible thing I have ever laid eyes on, except Carl,” Lindsay admits. “I don’t think I slept at all last night; I think I just stared at this ring. It’s gorgeous. He really crushed it; it could not have been more perfect.”
“I like to think that I’m pretty good at knowing what Lindsay likes, but I did have some help from Nicole Rose, who is an incredible jeweler and good friend of Lindsay’s,” Carl explains. “I had picked up on a couple of things Lindsay liked, and Nicole helped me narrow it down to a few stones, sent me design ideas, and created this beautiful ring.”
“I’m really happy with how it turned out,” he adds. “She means everything to me, and I wanted it to be something that was reflective of my love for her and how excited I am to take the next step.”
“It’s a whole lot of love,” Lindsay notes. “It’s very clear, if you look at this finger, that this man loves me so much.”
Afterward, the couple went to celebrate their engagement at Dockers Waterside Marina & Restaurant, where they were greeted by their friends, family, and Bravo co-stars.
“That’s when it all became real to me,” Lindsay confesses. “Until that point, I was like, ‘Is this happening right now?’ But when I saw my parents and some of my best friends who don’t even live in New York who had flown in, I knew it wasn’t just a dream. And I just lost it. I lost it. I started hysterically crying.”
“She kept saying, ‘Should I call my parents?’ — not knowing that they were also waiting for her. And I was like, ‘The service is spotty here, let’s just wait until we get to Dockers,’ knowing the next level of the surprise,” Carl adds.
Summer House stars Kyle Cooke, Danielle Olivera, Paige DeSorbo, and Mya Allen were also there and were just as surprised as anyone about the engagement.
“They were all surprised too because the entire house didn’t know it was happening — they also thought they were going to a bonfire,” Lindsay admits. “Amanda [Batula] even missed it because she was back in New York City, taking care of her dogs who just got spayed. But Kyle FaceTimed her, and we got to say hello.”
“We’re going to do another engagement party in New York in a few weeks,” Carl explains, noting that the second party will give his mom and their other friends a chance to celebrate with them. “I tried to get [Summer House alum] Luke Gulbranson out last night, but he was in Minnesota. But Andrea Salerno and his girlfriend Lexi happened to be in town, so they got to be there, which was really cool.”
Carl and Lindsay have starred on Bravo’s Summer House since the inception of the show in 2017. Over the years, they built a super close friendship. The two began dating in October 2021 after flirting and getting very close that summer.
The two confirmed their relationship in January 2022 and have made it clear their relationship is the real deal. They moved in together in June, and Carl supported Lindsay during her recent egg freezing procedure.
As for the future, the reality TV couple is keeping all their options open and allowing the Universe to decide their fate, according to Lindsay.
“I am very much of the mindset of, whichever way the universe wants to go with our timeline, I’ll follow,” Lindsay admits. “I threw my own timelines out the door; they do not exist. Whether a wedding or marriage comes first or a baby, it doesn’t matter. This is my life partner; we want all the same things together.”