Is this Kelowna's most romantic marriage proposal?

Regular viewers of Kelowna10 may be familiar with a certain Kelowna love affair.

Well, it's now taken on an even loftier chapter.

Late last month, the sun was shining, and the sky was clear when Darren McCaig told his girlfriend and life-long love Jennifer Moran to hop in the car.

Earlier this year, she surprised him with tickets to watch NASCAR in Talladega for his 50th birthday. Not to be outdone, he planned a big surprise of his own that day – proposing.

“As our relationship played out, there was absolutely no doubt in my mind,” Darren told Kelowna10. “With Jenn, [the proposal]’s got to be big. It’s got to be huge.”

Driving towards Vernon where Jenn’s parent’s live, she suspected something special was up. She even noticed Darren was looking at and caressing her left hand often that day.

Just in case her suspicions were correct, she made sure to update her nail polish.

“And then we pulled into Okanagan Skydive, and I said, ‘no, no, no, no, I’m not doing this’” Jennifer said.

Despite her reluctance to freefall herself, skydiving has played an important, albeit indirect, part in both their lives. Their parents were friends who jumped out of planes together before the couple were born.

It was at one of their parent’s events at an airstrip where the young lovebirds shared their first kiss at eight years old.

Upon first meeting them, Kelowna10 learned how their love life is already life long; from fighting over toys in nursery, to being each other’s first boyfriend and girlfriend.

Despite being separated for more than 30 years, fate and social media reunited them before they both moved out to the Okanagan together.

Back to present day, Jenn overcame her fear and they both jumped out of a plane at 10,000 feet. Parachute deployed, Jenn’s tandem skydiver pointed to something large and distinct that loved ones had unfurled on the ground.

“One friend of mine had a big 30 by 50-foot tarp that I made the week prior,” Darren explained. “And that said, ‘Jenn will you marry me,’ so she could see it when she jumped out of the plane.”

Upon landing, Darren helped Jenn to her feet before taking a knee while friends and family emerged onto the field with roses. That’s when he delivered a prepared speech.

“I said, ‘Jenn, you took one big leap for me right now,’” Darren recited. “So, I’m asking you to take another. Will you marry me?”

Her response:

“Yes, of course I will.”

Wedding prep is still preliminary. Their hope is that the new KF Centre for Excellence will allow evening event bookings for the big day given how crucial airplanes have been to their relationship; plus, Darren helped build the centre.

Until then, they can look back fondly on their high-flying engagement day.

“I wouldn’t ask for anything different,” Darren said. “It was perfect.”