Yahoo Lifestyle “Bachelorette” Alum Michelle Young Is Engaged to Jack Leius! 'There Were a Lot of Happy Tears' (Exclusive)
Leius pulled off a surprise lakeside proposal in Minnesota on Oct. 24, making Young believe she was taking part in a commercial shoot
Michelle Young is engaged to Jack Leius — and their proposal story is one for the books!
On Oct. 24, The Bachelorette alum, 31, arrived at Centennial Lakes in Edina, Minnesota, under the assumption she was going to be filming a commercial. "I was really excited when I found out I had the opportunity to shoot with one of my favorite brands for the second time," Young tells PEOPLE.
But, as it turned out, it was all a clever ruse set up by Leius, 27, to surprise her. With an assist from Young's management team, Leius — who is VP of sales for Covert Edge Athletics — set up a fake shoot, even arranging for Young to sign a fake contract and be given a script with lines to memorize for the commercial.
On the big day, she had her hair, makeup and nails done and arrived at "the set." A florist, posing as an employee of the brand, then guided her down a set of stairs to the lake "to check in with the photographer and videographer."
Instead of the commercial crew, Leius was waiting there. "I completely froze when I saw Jack standing in the middle of this beautiful flower arch of white roses," Young says, recalling just how surprised she was. "I was fooled so badly that for a moment I thought the joke was that Jack was one of the male models that I would be working with at the shoot." Artful Events & Design created all the florals for the proposal.
The former reality star tells PEOPLE she is usually good at predicting impending surprises — but she never saw this one coming. "I’ve always had a very strong intuition and could see surprises from miles away, even since I was little. I hadn’t even slightly sensed this was happening today," she says.
Young notes that people often asked when the pair were planning to get engaged, but Leius had shown "no signs" that he had bought a ring. "Little did I know that he had been designing the ring with Wedding Day Diamonds for the two months prior," she says.
Still not grasping the situation, Young remembers asking Leius, "Why are you here? Are you the other model? Aren’t you supposed to be in a meeting right now?” But when Leius reached into his pocket and got down on one knee, there was suddenly no doubt in her mind about what was really happening.
"I tried to say yes several times but was in shock that no words really came out. There were a lot of happy tears and of course I said YES!" says Young, whose custom ring features a 3.56-carat emerald-cut diamond.
Leius jokes that the surprise proposal "really tested" his acting skills. "The biggest worry for me was that her intuition really does catch on to everything," he tells PEOPLE. "There were so many moments we crossed that we thought she might catch on."
Leius adds, "Her management team and I are pretty proud about pulling off the big surprise, and we all have a lot of funny stories about how many details it took to make this entire day believable."
Following the emotional proposal, the newly engaged couple celebrated at a party with their family and close friends — another surprise for Young. "They really did get me good to the point where even after the engagement party finished, I did check in with my management team to ask if I had to go back and do the video shoot," she says.
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The couple first met a little over a year ago after being introduced through a mutual friend. After meeting up for a first date one night, they then "spent nearly every moment of the next four days together and quickly made the decision to be exclusive after doing so," Young tells PEOPLE.
Young unveiled their relationship on her Instagram in October 2023, and the two later made their public debut as a couple at Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist's Golden Bachelor wedding in January.
Young — who starred in season 18 of The Bachelorette — says she was first drawn to Leius' energy and kindness. "You don’t have to spend much time with him to see how much he cares about people in general," she explains.
She continues, "When you’re asked those cheesy types of questions about 'who comes to mind when you hear the words trustworthy, genuine, considerate, I’ve noticed he’s the person who first comes to mind — not just for me but for so many others who have crossed paths with him. I think that speaks volumes about his character."
Recalling the moment she first fell in love with Leius, she says, "I was sitting at the dinner table with my family (he was not present) and got choked up while telling them how 'I’ve never met anyone who calms my nervous system.' "
Now, the two are looking forward to planning their dream wedding together — and they anticipate having a sizable guest list to accommodate all the important people in their lives.
"We both have so many people close to us that we want on our special day, so definitely a big enough wedding to include them," Young notes.
