Devin Dawson Gets Engaged

Over the weekend while in San Francisco celebrating their two-year anniversary, Devin Dawson got engaged to his girlfriend Leah Sykes.

Dawson popped the question privately on the rooftop bar at the new Virgin Hotel in downtown San Francisco, making it the first proposal to happen at the spot as the bar isn’t technically open yet.

Devin told People, “Sunday was the two year anniversary of our first date, and I’ve known for a while now that I wanted that to be the day I propose to her. I wanted to set that day in stone so we could always remember how important March 10th is to us."

“I grew up around San Francisco and she’s never been, so we made a trip out of it and I got to show her around one of my favorite cities in the world," he explained. "I think she might have suspected that I would pop the question this weekend when I took her to all my favorite spots —Ocean Beach, The Presidio, Twin Peaks — but I wanted to try to surprise her when she least expected it. So I waited until late Saturday night… When it turned midnight (our anniversary), our good friends at Virgin Hotels let me take over their rooftop bar.”

“We went up for a ‘nightcap,’ but when the elevator opened our song was playing, there were candles everywhere and we had the rooftop to ourselves,” he continued. “I think it hit her then, because she just started bawling! I was really proud of actually catching her off guard. I got down on one knee and she screamed ‘YES’ to me with the entire city behind us.”

Dawson and Sykes both attended Belmont University in Nashville and became acquainted through several chance encounters.

He posted on Instagram, "Yesterday we celebrated two years ... but I needed to have her FOREVER. Leah, thank you for showing me what hope feels like. I know there’s almost 8 billion people in this world, but yesterday - without a shadow of a doubt - you made me the happiest man on this floating spinning rock when you said yes. I could go on forever ... Love is a crazy thing."

-Nancy Brooks