NEED TO KNOW
Rochelle Mindrum was surprised by her fiancé’s proposal during a hike in Georgia after months of planning
Her fiancé chose a blue diamond for the ring, which differed from the colorless diamond she had envisioned
Mindrum’s viral TikTok about the proposal sparked mixed reactions, with some viewers criticizing her response to the ring
Rochelle Mindrum had been expecting she’d get engaged soon. She’d even gone shopping with her boyfriend to try and pick out the perfect ring — so she was completely surprised when she saw what stone he settled on.
The 29-year-old, who is based out of Orlando, Fl., tells PEOPLE that she and her now-fiancé Jak Keller had been talking about getting engaged for about six to seven months. She specified that she wanted the proposal to be done in nature, and that she wanted to be genuinely surprised.
She’d been expecting the proposal to happen during a planned vacation in Europe, but Keller was unable to make the trip. So, when they took a trip to Georgia together, she figured it must be coming soon.
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Rochelle Mindrum and fiancé Jak Keller
Credit: Courtesy of Rochelle Mindrum
“The location was a complete surprise and while I thought it could happen on our hike at Tallulah George, I was a bit unsure,” Mindrum tells PEOPLE. “However, Jak was so nervous the whole hike, so I had a feeling it was coming.”
On the side of a cliff, Keller set up his phone to take a video. He grabbed Mindrum’s hands, started his speech and got down on one knee. “It was such a beautiful moment,” recalls Mindrum.
After the proposal happened, Mindrum looked down at the ring and realized her fiancé had chosen a blue diamond — which was different than the colorless diamond she’d picked out.
“I was extremely surprised by the blue diamond,” she says. “The box it was in was dark blue, so at first I thought it was a reflection of the box. Once it was on my finger though, I was able to see that the diamond was in fact blue.”
Mindrum and Keller had gone ring shopping together late last year, but didn’t find anything they’d both loved. She determined she liked an oval solitaire, but it wasn’t until she was scrolling on TikTok that she found the tulip basket setting and realized that was the one.
After doing some research online, Mindrum constructed her dream ring and sent Keller all the specifics. She says she told him the color range she was interested in — which was a colorless diamond — but never specified colorless to him.
“My first reaction was to say, ‘It’s so blue,’ which can be seen in my TikTok,” remembers Mindrum, who shared the moment on her social media. “I will specify however that was only said AFTER I had said yes and we finished crying and celebrating the fact that we were now engaged.”
“I was just so shocked at the color and by the emotions from the proposal that I truly had no filter at the moment,” she says.
Credit: Courtesy of Rochelle Mindrum
Once they got back home, Mindrum and Keller decided to switch out the diamond for a colorless one. Luckily, they were able to keep the tulip basket, cathedral setting.
“I thought the ring was gorgeous, however, I had always dreamed of my engagement ring being a colorless diamond, so it just didn’t fit my vision,” she explains. “It does not help that my birthstone is aquamarine, so I am used to receiving blue-hued stones.”
“It turns out he was trying to get me a higher quality diamond and the website was a little confusing, so he thought the higher quality diamonds all threw off a little blue hue, as the pictures online were a very faint blue,” continues Mindrum.
“He was scared to drop the ring, so he never took it out of the box. He only looked at in the box. So he was just as shocked as I was with how blue it was!”
Mindrum’s video went viral on TikTok. She says she was “so shocked” by the reactions online.
“I think the most surprising part is how divided the comments were and how much people were twisting our story,” she shares. “The video is only 16 seconds, and people were creating their own narrative, telling me my fiancé is terrible and doesn’t know me, that I ruined the moment completely and am ungrateful, that I should have accepted the ring and kept my mouth shut, that we are never got last…the list goes on and on.”
“It was overwhelming how many people jumped to conclusions based on a small clip of one of our happiest moments,” continues Mindrum. “So that has been a little difficult to see.”
Credit: Courtesy of Rochelle Mindrum
Now, Mindrum is thinking about what kind of band she’ll add to her stack when her wedding day arrives.
“As far as the wedding band goes, I am leaning more toward a simple band, possibly with a vintage engraved look,” she says. “I love nature and nature-inspired jewelry, so I have really been loving the engraved floral bands.”
“We are still in the planning stages of deciding, but I definitely think we will be going toward something more classic, simple and vintage,” continues the bride-to-be. “I really want my diamond to be the focal piece.”
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