This Headliner Recreated kineticFIELD to Propose to His Fiancée

It’s a scenario most people in a serious relationship (or those who wish they were) play in their heads over and over again: How will the big question be popped? However many versions were fabricated in her imagination, Morgan never saw what was coming when her now fiancé Ruben asked for her hand.

They first met at EDC Las Vegas 2013. Morgan, then in her senior year of college, made the road trip from Fort Worth, Texas, with a school friend. Ruben, on the other hand, was in town from Los Angeles, celebrating his 28th birthday with his whole squad by his side. Both had their own reasons for hitting up the three-day extravaganza, and both were unaware they would cross paths like a scene plucked straight from a rom-com.

“I turned around, and there he was,” says Morgan of the moment she spotted Ruben while Armin van Buuren manned the decks at kineticFIELD. She convinced her friend to scoot back closer to where he was, so she could make her move. “He always says at the same moment I was walking back to him, he was telling his friend he was going to go talk to me. I beat him to it.”

Regardless of who initiated it all, in the next few minutes the ice was officially broken, and the two of them hit it off instantly. They spent the subsequent hours intensely getting to know each other, and at times, just dancing together like the whole world was cheering them on.

“It was finally time to call it a night,” Ruben recalls, “and that’s when we shared our first kiss. It felt like it lasted forever but also didn’t last long enough. I didn’t want her lips to leave mine that night.”

The weekend ran its course, and the inevitable finally came—time to part ways and trudge back to their respective homes. The distance wasn’t enough to break their spirits, though. They kept in touch for what seemed like the entire time they were apart, squeezing in as many Skype calls as their schedules would permit. But the separation anxiety soon became intolerable, eventually pushing Morgan to pack up her things and give in to her desire to be closer to Ruben.

“One month later, I announced to my family I was moving to Los Angeles to see about a boy,” she says. “Best. Decision. Ever.”

Everything felt right, except the bout of homesickness Morgan encountered. So, in the fall of 2014, she moved back to Texas, taking Ruben with her. It was there that they launched Lunar Threadz, an online rave wear store, and where things between them really started getting serious.

“I remembered her saying once that it would be the coolest thing in the world being proposed to at EDC,” says Ruben, “and that got me thinking.” This was the light bulb moment when Ruben realized what he had to do.

He put his plans in motion, all while the unsuspecting Morgan went about her life, not knowing Ruben was putting weeks of dexterity and craftiness into his vision.

“I made a life-size replica design of the owl in Illustrator and had a local company print each piece of the design on a high-quality gloss paper. Once I picked up the final prints, that’s when the real work began.”

Ruben got to DIYing right away, spending almost every waking hour working to recreate the magic of where they first laid eyes on each other. Toiling night and day, and even on his lunch breaks, he spent the next few weeks piecing together all of the components of the grandiose owl that towered over them and signified their beginning.

“I drained all energy out of my body to finish that owl, get all the daisies ready, paint what parts needed painting, shape the foam into the eyes and the beak,” he says. And somewhere in between all of that, I was finally able to pick up the ring that I knew was perfect for her.”

The big day finally arrived, and Morgan was completely oblivious about what was going down that night. “On the day of, I set up everything I had in the backyard to be ready for that night. I put up all the different sized and colored daisies, then got the owl head in place. The body followed next, and I had everything lined up perfectly. Fake snow went on the ground around the stage, and I covered that with over 200 mini white and pink daisies. Then I got all the lights up and finished with only a couple hours to spare.”

Everything was going according to plan, and all he had to do was wait for the right moment to take her back to where he had the miniature kineticFIELD stage waiting.

“We spent Christmas Eve with her family, and around 10pm, I signaled her brother that it was time to go. We slowly said our goodbyes and began our drive back to her mom’s house. We were going to spend the night there to wake up for the annual family gift opening next morning. Little did she know, she was getting one gift a little early.”

Her eyes closed and anticipation peaking, Morgan was left waiting in the driveway while Ruben ran ahead to put the final touches on his masterpiece. Once the music was loaded and lights flipped on, he grabbed her hand and guided her through the gates.

“I told her I wanted to bring her back to that magical night when we met in front of that stage. I wanted her to feel those first emotions again, to relive in her mind what we loved from that day so much. That was the night that changed my life for the better in every way, and when my true happiness began. Her smile from that day still kills me every time I see it.”

With everything riding on his elaborate plan, Ruben got down on bended knee and went for it.

“She was speechless, and with tears coming down,” says Ruben, “until she was finally able to mumble a ‘Yes, I love you.’”

While the details for their big day are still hanging in the air, Morgan and Ruben admit they haven’t completely ruled out the idea of an EDC ceremony. But whether or not they decide to tie the kandi knot there, the festival will always be remembered as the spark from which their love story started.

“EDC Las Vegas did this,” professes Morgan. “It started an incredible lifetime with an incredible man. Every single year, we go back to EDC no matter what. It brought two strangers together in a sea of hundreds of thousands of people—two rave soul mates.”