Moment man shocks girlfriend with surprise engagement in front of her kids

By Ben Barry via SWNS

This is the adorable moment a man surprised his girlfriend by proposing to her in front of her two children.

Lauren Moffe, 36, thought she was helping her photographer friend Lauren Licarione shoot someone else's proposal video.

But while she waited at the top of a hill, her partner Nick Maffeo, 40, met her family - including Moffe's kids Romeo, 8, and Theo, 6, nearby.

He asked them if he had their permission to ask their mother to marry him.

Nick, who works in finance, then walked up the hill with Romeo and Theo where his partner was waiting.

Moffe said she was in "total shock" when she realized Nick, Romeo and Theo were walking towards her - she thought her partner was working in Tokyo.

Nick popped the question and asked Moffe, also a photographer, to marry him on Nov. 19 at the Three Sixty Bridge in Austin, Texas.

Bride-to-be Moffe, from Austin, Texas, said: "I was so happy. I thought I was seeing things - I was so confused as I thought he was in Tokyo.

"But I was super excited and overwhelmed. I was just completely overwhelmed and then I saw my family and it didn't really hit me until a couple of hours later.

"It was really overwhelming at the time. I was just so focused on him surprising me on the other side of the world - it was really special."

Nick was on a work trip to Singapore in November but cut his trip short so he could fly home to the U.S. and surprise Moffe.

Nick said it took a month of planning.

To keep up the big surprise, Nick told her he was going from Singapore to Tokyo - so she wouldn't get suspicious when he was really flying home.

He wrote cue cards which he would read from if Moffe asked him any questions about the trip, so he wouldn't mess up.

Nick said: "There was a lot of back and forth between myself and Lauren's best friend.

"She helped me out with a lot of it. I had the idea of where and how and she had the ideas on how to organize it.

"For the planning phase I was in Singapore and I was supposed to be going to Tokyo for work but I was able to cut that part out of the trip."

Nick's journey to Austin wasn't so smooth sailing because his connecting flight from San Francisco to Austin got canceled.

Instead, he had to get a flight from San Francisco to Houston and then drove from 5 a.m. to the bridge where he proposed.

Nick said the proposal was "exciting" and said the moment he asked Romeo and Theo for their permission he said it was a great feeling.

He said: "It felt great when you are dating someone with two children.

"You are marrying into a three-person household, so getting their approval was very important to me - making sure they are ok with it is a big factor.

"She is a beautiful girl, I have known her for a while, and I know what type of person she is - it just feels right.

"It is hard to describe when I am with her and we are together it feels different from any other relationship I have ever had.

"Her smile, her laugh, and everything about her."

The couple is planning to get married in Mexico in December 2023.

"When I first met him, I knew he was different than the other guys," said Moffe.

"He is very peaceful, he has a lot of love for people, he is so sweet and more importantly he is a great role model for my kids to look up to.

"Nick came into our lives at the perfect time and the kids are so excited to have him as a bonus dad.

"He loves them as his own and they love him sincerely."