Love story unfolds on Charlie Lake during Crystal Cup

CHARLIE LAKE, B.C. — Just before fireworks illuminated the sky during the Crystal Cup in February, one lucky lady said yes to her long-term boyfriend on the ice of Charlie Lake.

After setting the scene with candles and rose petals, Jordan Schaefer proposed to his girlfriend of three years, Jasmine Gass, on the moonlit evening of February 24th.

Gass was in Fort St. John at her sister’s house on Saturday before she was supposed to head home, about an hour out of town, to help her mom.

Gass says she told Schaefer she was going to head home, but he insisted she should stay in town instead. Her mom called her and suggested she stay in town as well.

“I was like, ‘Okay,” and then he wasn’t answering me all day, so I was a bit suspicious of it,” Gass said.

Schaefer told Gass they should go out to eat around 4 p.m., and she agreed. 

Later, he asked to move their dinner date to 7 p.m. because he was running late.

“Then he came, picked me up, we just went out to eat, did a cute little date,” Gass said.

After they finished dinner, Schaefer suggested they go to his parent’s lakefront place, where his family was over for dinner.

When they get out there, Gass says he drove past his parents’ place and drove out onto the ice, and she asked what he was doing.

“He’s like, ‘Oh, the Crystal Cup is here, we should watch it,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, I thought we were going to see your family,’” Gass said.

Schaefer insisted on watching the Crystal Cup instead, and she agreed. To Gass’s surprise, he then blindfolded her, and when she asked what was going on, he said it was a secret.

The couple kept driving a little further before stopping. Gass’s door opened, and she heard Schaefer’s older sister, Jessica, tell her that she would lead her to where she needed to go.

Gass says Jessica fixed her hair for her, and she heard other voices, but she was still confused.

Jessica removed the blindfold, and Gass saw the scene before her.

Below some cliffs off of Charlie Lake, fairy lights, candles and flowers were set up on the ice, with the words “MARRY ME” in lights and a sign that read “Jasmine, will you marry me?”

Gass says she was speechless. Though she had suspicions about Schaefer’s behaviour throughout the day, she had no idea what was happening.

“I had a suspicion because it was a bit weird how he wasn’t answering me, and then my mom was like, ‘Oh, you should stay in town,’ out of nowhere,” Gass said.

“I knew something was going on. I didn’t know exactly what — he wasn’t acting like himself that day.”

Gass says the proximity to the Crystal Cup was just a coincidence and had more to do with Schaefer’s parents’ lakefront property.

Organizers of the Crystal Cup reached out to the newly engaged couple to give them some gift cards and Crystal Cup toques.

Gass says she would also like to thank the Schaefer family, who planned and set the scene up themselves.