Oia is the kind of place you wouldn’t believe if you didn’t see it yourself. There’s no good reason for it, other than postcards: a tendriled mass of tiny whitewashed homes huddling absurdly, vertiginously against a stony cliff washing out to sea hundreds of feet below.

Matt and Jessica had landed on Santorini earlier that day, the 18th of May. The trip to Greece was a surprise, a Christmas present, and you probably don’t want me to tell you how much Jess cried when she unwrapped that one. (A lot.) Even then, Matt’s plan was in motion.

There was a problem with the diamond and the engagement ring arrived in Toronto only days before the pair left for Greece. They flew separately so at least Matt didn’t have to worry about airport security taking it out of his carry-on in front of her. They spent a few days together in Athens, went to a friend’s wedding, pushed through mountains of food, and now here they stood in a village on sweltering Santorini, looking at a little restaurant called Melitini.

Matt had staked it out ages ago. He’d secretly made reservations from Canada, by phone, best table in the house, rooftop corner, sunset view. He’d even timed it so the sun should disappear somewhere between dinner and dessert courses.

That’s when he had the waitress come over to take a photo – actually, secretly, a video – and he got down on one knee. There are other details: the obnoxious New Yorkers one table over (they’d unsuccessfully tried to bribe the waitress for our table – “no way; the young man will be proposing” – and had been waiting for Matt to pop the question all night). The overpriced bottle of wine Matt and Jess bought on a chilly walk back to their villa (they coughed up way more than what it was worth because this one restaurant was the only place open so late – except, it turns out, for the discount wine store around the corner). The fact that Matt, never fully recovered from a broken foot, put in weeks of secret physio to be able to get down on that knee (now he can dorsiflex with the best of them). But there’s really only one detail that matters:

She said yes.