On January 29th of 2017, Emily's mother, Gayle, was in town, and the plan was to go out to dinner as a family. Little did she know, Eric was hard at work to give Emily the surprise of a lifetime, which involved a very special ring. Said ring belonged to his mother, Jan—originally a gift from his father's (Ron) Amsterdam travels 25 years prior. Per usual, Jan asked if she could take a picture of the couple. While Emily was preoccupied with positioning her chair, Eric slipped the ring box on the table and waited for her response. As soon as Emily saw the box, Eric proceeded to get down on one knee. At that moment, tears began to flow followed by champagne.