Jack & Nicole | Surprise Proposal on Stanford Main Quad

“Fwd: FW: National Championship Project” — that was the subject line of an email that Jack got from Stanford, inviting his girlfriend Nicole, a Stanford alumna and tennis champion, to participate in a profile for the athletics department to celebrate 40 years of Stanford national championships. All she had to do was schedule a time to visit Stanford to meet with some photographers on campus.

Despite the very convincing invitation that his friends in the Stanford athletics department made, complete with a university letterhead, it was all made up…

When Jack and Nicole arrived at the Oval last weekend, the fake university photographers (that’s us!) greeted them and led Nicole towards the main quad where we were supposedly going to have her photo shoot. During the short walk there, Jack slipped away to “use the restroom,” and Nicole told us about the Full Moon on the Quad tradition and vividly recounted how the two of them had met on campus as undergrads.

We led her to a table which we had set up earlier with Jack’s dad right in front of the Stanford Memorial Church. On the table was a specially prepared iPad with a video that Jack had made — and we could see her getting emotional as soon as the first frame appeared. The video ended in “turn around,” and by that time, Jack was waiting in the circle behind her, ready with a huuuuuge, sparkly ring. Take a look below for photos of this magical event, and please join me in congratulating this very special couple!