Plan A was to do it under the northern lights. After doing some research, we discovered that the usual time frame for viewing the aurora is between November and March. April (the month) was on the back end of that so I wasn't super confident that we'd be able to stick with the original plan (more on that later).
Plan B was to do it at an epic location: a waterfall, an ice cave, a glacier, etc. When we arrived at our first sightseeing spot, April uttered these words: "This is epic!" We were at Gulfoss Waterfall in the Golden Circle. I was very tempted to drop down and propose right then and there, 4-5 hours after arriving in Iceland. This temptation was heightened when Andrew offered to take our picture in a "couple-y" fashion.
April later told me that in this moment she thought to herself, "This would be a nice place for a proposal..." But due to my Chandler-esque tactics, she knew that that wouldn't happen because she thought that marriage wasn't even on my radar! Edward talked me out of doing it at this location, saying that I should just wait. We had 7 whole days to see if the northern lights could happen after all.
To check on our chances, we stumbled across this website: http://www.northernlightsiceland.com/northern-lights-forecast/
The website says that you need a combination of dark clear skies, particles of solar wind, and good luck. Using satellites, particle fluxes headed for Earth from the Sun can be monitored and can predict when aurora are more likely to appear 2-3 days before they arrive. This forecast is expressed on the quasi-logarithmic Kp-index which is a numerical scale from 0 to 9. About 90% of the time, it is 0-4 and only reaches 7-9 1% of the time. The map shows cloud cover in 3 tiers, lower clouds, middle clouds, and high clouds. White represents clear skies and Dark green represents complete cloud cover. The website claims that even a forecast of 2 can be beautiful while 3 can be dazzling. So we were hoping that we could be at the right place at the right time with a 2-3 forecast.
Day 3 of our trip provided such an opportunity. The forecast said that there would only very little low cloud cover where we were at the time (Western fjords), and it was a 2. Based on a suggestion given to us by the information desk in our little town, we made our way up a mountain around 11:30 pm. The skies were relatively clear but minutes after we arrived, snow flurries began hitting us from up the mountain. We decided to try and wait it out in a nearby tunnel, and Andrew took these beauties in the meantime.
When we arrived at our little lookout spot, an RV was already there and the couple that owned it was already set-up with a tripod and camera. We got out of the car and looked up. Shades of green, purple, and white flowed in the sky.
The sun was still setting, yet we could already see that this was going to be beautiful. Once it got completely dark, we started taking group pictures.
After one of these group pictures, the plan was set into action. Edward started filming with my camera, Kevin held up a flashlight, and Andrew took pictures while I started singing "The Way You Look Tonight." Halfway into the first verse, I changed the lyrics:
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| Gulfoss Waterfall |
To check on our chances, we stumbled across this website: http://www.northernlightsiceland.com/northern-lights-forecast/
The website says that you need a combination of dark clear skies, particles of solar wind, and good luck. Using satellites, particle fluxes headed for Earth from the Sun can be monitored and can predict when aurora are more likely to appear 2-3 days before they arrive. This forecast is expressed on the quasi-logarithmic Kp-index which is a numerical scale from 0 to 9. About 90% of the time, it is 0-4 and only reaches 7-9 1% of the time. The map shows cloud cover in 3 tiers, lower clouds, middle clouds, and high clouds. White represents clear skies and Dark green represents complete cloud cover. The website claims that even a forecast of 2 can be beautiful while 3 can be dazzling. So we were hoping that we could be at the right place at the right time with a 2-3 forecast.
Day 3 of our trip provided such an opportunity. The forecast said that there would only very little low cloud cover where we were at the time (Western fjords), and it was a 2. Based on a suggestion given to us by the information desk in our little town, we made our way up a mountain around 11:30 pm. The skies were relatively clear but minutes after we arrived, snow flurries began hitting us from up the mountain. We decided to try and wait it out in a nearby tunnel, and Andrew took these beauties in the meantime.
The snow was relentless and we eventually gave up our hopes that night. The proposal had to wait.
At this point, I was banking on seeing the northern lights 3 days later in a southern city called Vik. The cloud cover looked minimal and the forecasts called for a 3. All the other nights on our trip looked like they would be extremely cloud-covered.
On the day that originally forecast a 3 with little cloud clover, I checked the website again. To my surprise, the forecast was changed to a 5 and our area showed no cloud cover at all! Are you kidding me?! a 5?! Remember that anything greater than a 4 only ever popped up about 10% of the time. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Despite visiting a few more epic locations that day (as shown below), I held out for that night.
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| Svartifoss Waterfall at Skaftafell |
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| Skaftafellsjökull (Skaftafell Glacier) |
We arrived back at our Airbnb right before nightfall. I checked the forecast one more time. It was still at 5, and the skies looked clear between midnight and 3 am. The stage was set. On our way back to Vik (a little town in South Iceland), we scouted some locations just outside of the town where it would be darker. As we made our way there, the sun was setting (keep in mind that the sun sets between 10 and 11 pm during this time in Iceland). And faded shades of green started to appear in the sky. My heart was racing and so was Edward. He was driving the car and we were all eager to get to our destination and finally see the phenomenon.
When we arrived at our little lookout spot, an RV was already there and the couple that owned it was already set-up with a tripod and camera. We got out of the car and looked up. Shades of green, purple, and white flowed in the sky.
The sun was still setting, yet we could already see that this was going to be beautiful. Once it got completely dark, we started taking group pictures.
After one of these group pictures, the plan was set into action. Edward started filming with my camera, Kevin held up a flashlight, and Andrew took pictures while I started singing "The Way You Look Tonight." Halfway into the first verse, I changed the lyrics:
April, will you be my love
Here forever more
Will you be my one and only
Will you please marry me.
As I sang those last words, I dropped down to one knee. April started crying and silently nodded. I cheered in joy.
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| Dancing and Singing |
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| Getting down on one knee |
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| Taking the ring out (it's hard with snow gloves!) |
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| Opening the box |
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| Placing the ring on April's finger |
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| Yeah! |
After the proposal, April was surprised to hear that I had been planning this for 6 months, that I'd told all the most important people in her life, and that I had been pulling a half-Chandler all this time (not full Chandler because I DID at least give a timeline for when I wanted to get married. Chandler just said he didn't believe in marriage at all). I explained most if not all the secrets I could while Andrew took a couple more shots.
The next day, we found out from one of the locals that Vik is one of the most unlikely places to see the northern lights because it's usually covered in clouds. Well this particular night, it happened to be the only part of Iceland that WASN'T covered in clouds. It almost seemed like fate that a 5 forecast with no cloud cover would happen in one of the most unlikely places.
Mission Accomplished
All photos were taken by Mark Andrew Gonzales. Follow his photography at
markandrewg.com
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