Jennifer Pedranti and Ryan Boyajian are one step closer to their happily ever after the RHOC got engaged in the Bahamas last week. Get all the details!
Per PEOPLE, the RHOC couple got engaged last week while while vacationing at the Baha Mar resort in the Bahamas.
“We’re both super stoked and couldn’t be happier,” says Jennifer Pedranti, 46. “We always say that our love is a gift, and this just feels like the icing on the cake.”
“This is a magical time for us,” she adds. “I really am the luckiest girl in the world.”
Ryan popped the question on Thursday, April 11, while they were taking a stroll on the beach.
The location is one their “favorite spots” to visit with their blended family.
“We take all the kids there, typically the first week of summer, so it was important for me to do it in a spot that means something to us,” Ryan reveals. “Now we’ll always be able to go right there in the little perch of sand by the staircase and remember this milestone together.”
“It feels so special that this happened while we were in our happy place,” the RHOC star adds.
Jennifer flew straight from the RHOC season 18 cast trip in London to meet Ryan in the Bahamas, noting that she had no idea a proposal was coming.
“I was shocked,” she recalls. “He was like, ‘Come here for a second’ and we walked down on the beach. And he pulled me in, and I said to him, ‘Are you doing something?’ And the second he got down in the sand, I don’t even remember what he said because I was so surprised.”
“There were probably a hundred people lined up in the pool, and out of nowhere we just heard a roar of people cheering and clapping,” she continues. “It was absolutely amazing.”
Ryan proposed with a 5-carat custom cushion cut diamond he designed with Enalie Jewelers in Mission Viejo, California. According to Ryan he designed and purchased the ring two years ago when Jennifer was filming her first season of the Real Housewives of Orange County.
Just like the proposal, Jennifer didn’t see herself receiving such a large engagement ring.
“This is the second marriage for Ryan and I, so we would talk about, ‘Oh, maybe if we get married one day, we’ll just do a small tattoo on our left ring finger where only we know what it means,’ ” she shares. “And then this guy proposes with a ring that just knocks my socks off.”
The two have been dating since September 2020 and met while Jennifer was still married to her now estranged husband, who are still in the process of getting divorced.
Ryan and Jennifer share seven kids from their respective marriages: Cole, 20, Harrison, 20, Tyler, 18, Dawson, 17, Greyson, 15, Everleigh, 13, and Dominic, 10.
Before popping the question, Ryan got the approval of her parents and two brothers.
“That for me was a super special day because the conversations are something that I’ll never forget with the four of them,” he says.
“I say this all the time. I am so prioritized,” Jennifer notes. “He communicates everything with me. And he is my best friend. I get to do life with my best friend.”
“We do life together,” he says. “She is a combination of not only the strongest woman I’ve ever met, not only the most loving woman I’ve ever met, but an absolutely amazing mom and a lover of not just people in her own circle, but of people in general. I’ve never met someone who radiates so much love and true, genuine care for everyone.”
As for their wedding plans, the Bravo couple are thinking of returning to Baha Mar for a simple and small celebration.
“I don’t think Ryan nor myself are looking for some big celebration,” she shares. “We just got engaged, so obviously we’re just enjoying that and not planning anything concrete, but I can see us doing it on one of these trips where all of our kids are with us on the sand. Something small, just family and friends.”
“If I had my way, it would be same way you saw the proposal picture: it’d be a bikini and board shorts and all of our kids,” says Ryan says with Jennifer adding, “I don’t know about that…”
The Real Housewives of Orange County will return for season 18 in mid-to-late 2024.
