A couple went to Africa on their 5th date. Now they’re engaged, and the bride-to-be has a custom ring that nods to that trip.

California natives Natasha Gabbayan and Josh Banayan weren’t completely sold on each other after their first four dates. Still, they had a connection.

So Banayan did what anyone in his position would: he asked Gabbayan to travel with him to Cape Town for the wedding of a childhood friend. She said yes.

“We fell in love in Africa,” Banayan, a business owner, told Business Insider. “It was a crazy, five-day experience.”

They danced, got to know each other, and even went on a safari in Namibia.

“It was funny because there were four other couples on that safari with us,” he said. “Three were celebrating their honeymoon, one of them was proposing there, and then it was us. We were like, ‘Yeah, we kind of just met.'”

They’ve been together since that 2023 trip and are now celebrating their own engagement. Gabbayan’s standout ring even has a special tie to that early trip overseas.

Playing the long game

Banayan, 36, made a plan earlier this year to ensure Gabbayan, 29, would never suspect he was about to propose.

Four months in advance, he scheduled a weekly dinner reservation at the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood, where they had their first date.

“We called it Tower Tuesdays,” he said. “I’d call her an Uber, and I’d already be there. We’d get drinks and treat it like our first date.”

Gabbayan describes her partner as a “big planner,” so she never considered that the recurring dates might be a ruse. When she arrived one Tuesday in June and was led to a suite, however, she knew something was up.

“My heart started racing and I kind of blacked out a little from excitement,” she said.

A violinist performed Gabbayan’s favorite songs as she walked in, and Banayan launched into “a five-minute speech.” Though she doesn’t remember it, Gabbayan knows she said yes when he asked her to marry him.

They spent the rest of their night having a private dinner in their suite, enjoying the same dishes they had on their first date, like pigs in a blanket.

The couple also wore matching pajamas, filmed family videos on Banayan’s childhood camcorder, and signed a bottle of Blue Label scotch, which they hope will be the first drink they share with their future children.

A one-of-a-kind ring to match a special love story

Banayan told nearly no one that he was going to propose. He called his parents that morning and asked Gabbayan’s father for permission to marry her two hours before their scheduled date.

He also didn’t seek help when designing his bride-to-be’s engagement ring.

“I have this philosophy that a man, if he’s asking a woman to marry him, should know exactly what ring she wants,” Banayan said. “He shouldn’t have to take hints or have the girl tell him.”

“Marriage and relationships are all about listening, especially as a man,” he added. “Just listen to the woman, and you should know.”

Gabbayan, who owns a vintage clothing brand, admitted to being “so nervous” about giving up creative control.

“I want to say I had faith, but I didn’t have that much faith,” she said.

But Banayan did his research. For months, he monitored Gabbayan’s personal style and the jewelry accounts she follows on Instagram.

His final design included two attached gold bands — representing the couple being a team — with their birthstones, a ruby and an aquamarine, hidden inside the ring’s band. A vintage-inspired cushion-cut diamond sits on top.

“When I’m looking at her rock, her birthstone on the bottom is facing me because she always comes first,” Banayan said. “And when she’s looking at her ring, my stone is facing her because I always come first to her.”

The ring was also crafted by Banayan’s childhood friend, who now works in the diamond industry — the same friend who got married in Africa and brought the couple together.

“It’s really who I am and exactly what I like,” Gabbayan said of her ring. “He really hit it right on the nail, without me even realizing that’s something that I would’ve wanted. I couldn’t have described it better if I wanted to.”

With a ring on her hand and a wedding to plan, Gabbayan said she’s woken up every day since her proposal with a smile on her face.

“I know that I’ll look at this ring 50 years from now and remember that he spent four months designing and picking out every detail,” she said. “I can buy myself a ton of jewelry, but an engagement ring is supposed to be sentimental and remind you of your person.”

All that’s left for the couple to do now is get married.

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