A couple who planned separate proposals surprised each other as they got down on one knee at the same time.
Rachel Hundertmark, 36, had been planning for months to propose to partner Rashad Polk, 41, at a concert.
The couple had shared their first kiss at a Modest Mouse gig in 2021 and Rachel wanted to pop the question at the same concert three years on.
So on June 14, Rachel and Rashad headed down to the gig, along with their friends, family and Rachel’s daughter, Jasmine Halstead, 16.
Rachel had a ring tucked in her pocket ready to ask the big question – with no idea that Rashad had the same plan.
Both had confided in Jasmine that they planned to get down on one knee – meaning the teen had to keep both secrets without ruining the surprise.
Rachel dropped to one knee first, and as soon as Rashad saw, he did the same in a heart-warming moment – with Jasmine ready to get the whole thing on camera.
Rachel, a full-time computer studies student, from Baltimore City, Maryland, US, said: “I never wanted to marry in the past because I found it too traditional, but I decided I did want to marry Rashad.
“I wanted to do something less traditional for the proposal though.
“I wanted to get down on one knee to make him feel like a prince, just like he makes me feel like a princess.
“I knew I wanted to but I wasn’t expecting him to propose – we were so shocked at what happened that neither of us thought to actually say ‘yes.’”
Rachel and Rashad originally met through work in 2019 but lost contact over the pandemic, before reconnecting in 2021.
They had shared their first kiss at a concert and both of them noticed the significance when they went to watch the band again in June.
Both of them had been planning their separate proposals for months, with neither of them expecting it from the other.
Meanwhile Jasmine was sitting on the knowledge that they both had the exact same plan.
They said everything went perfectly on the day and they have already got a date set to wed in September 2025.
Rashad, a photographer, said: “It went perfectly on the day, even the weather was perfect. The moment was flawless.
“It was so surreal – it felt like an out of body experience.
“It was good she proposed first, because I was waiting for a certain song before I proposed, and they didn’t even end up playing the one I was waiting for.
“The song she we proposed to, Dashboard, will definitely play at our wedding.
“I don’t think anyone imagined it would happen exactly that way, but it was just perfect.
“And in the car on the way home, the radio played ‘Marry You’ by Bruno Mars which felt very fitting.”