april-2012

COUPLE #2 BY BRET LOVE
Washington, DC-based couple
Jason Mehta (an attorney for the
U.S. Department of State) and
Lauren Tribble (works in political
law) had been dating just over
two years when Jason decided it
was time to pop the question. But
Jason, an avid scuba enthusiast
who had taken Lauren diving all
over the world, felt that his lady
was too special for an average
marriage proposal. So he con-
cocted an elaborate plan that
involved her employers, a fake
trip to Toronto and a surprise trip
to Cancun, where the couple had
first gone diving together two
years before.
APRIL 2012 33
GO MAGAZINE
JASON: In the summer of 2009, we went
scuba diving in the Caribbean and, in the
middle of our second dive, I ran out of oxygen.
She pulled off her ventilator and gave me a
kiss underwater. I knew at that moment that I
was going to marry her. Two years later, we were
in Buff alo, and afterwards I told her we were
going to Toronto. But that was all a ruse.
LAUREN: We woke up early in the morning for
our fl ight, and I was really excited because I had
never been to Canada before. Jason told me we
would be visiting the lake there and the weather
would be warm, so I brought my bathing suit.
JASON: I had scheduled with her work to have
her take the week off . She didn’t fi nd out we were
going to Cancun until we got to the TSA checkpoint.
I knew I wanted to do the proposal while
scuba diving. I said the others who were going to
go out on the boat cancelled, so we had the boat
all to ourselves. Once we were underwater, at the
end of the fi rst dive, that’s when I proposed.
LAUREN: Looking back, I was really gullible.
I totally bought that the other 6 people had
cancelled, and he said they had hired a photographer
who wanted to come along–even though we
weren’t going to pay him!
JASON: We were doing two dives, and I arranged
for the proposal to happen at the end of the fi rst
dive. I had a fake ring in an oyster shell, and I also
had a sign underwater that said, “Will you marry
me?” When I gave the signal, it would look like I’d
identifi ed this oyster shell and she would open it
and see the ring. All was going according to plan
until Lauren gave the signal that she wanted to
go up, and I had no idea what to do but we managed
to do it right before she went up!
LAUREN: It was the best dive of my life, we
had a private guide and went to a lot of reefs
and could even go inside them. I think we were
40 feet down when he proposed, and I was so
completely shocked, like “Is this really happening?”
I wanted to say yes, but when you’re
underwater you can’t, so I was just gesturing
wildly. Of course, that meant, yes!