Credit: Instagram
Olivia Flowers got engaged to boyfriend Alex Williams in New York City near family and friends, and the Southern Charm alum shared photos from his romantic proposal.
Olivia and Alex met last year when she accompanied her dad to a wedding in Texas. As the couple started dating, Oliva spent more and more time in the Lone Star State. According to the star, this played a role in why she was fired from Southern Charm, which is filmed in Charleston, South Carolina.
Speaking to PEOPLE, Alex shared that he proposed in NYC on September 25. The proposal involved Olivia’s parents and took weeks to plan.
When he got down on one knee at JW Marriott Essex House’s Meadow Terrace Suite, Olivia’s close friends and parents were nearby. The ring, a 4-carat diamond, was from Nicole Rose Jewelry, and it has a “classic, simple and elegant” design. It also features an 18k yellow gold band.
Earlier in the month, Alex started planning his proposal as Olivia left their place in Dallas to see New York Fashion Week. When she departed, Alex went to Charleston to ask her parents for permission to marry her.
“Olivia has such an incredible group of friends, from elementary school through to college, and she’s very close with her parents, so I knew involving them somehow would mean a lot to her. I wanted her to feel all the love and the excitement in the world from the surprise of her loved ones,” said Alex. “Her mom Robin had the idea to propose while the four of us would be in New York together, for the Project Lyme Gala Olivia was speaking at.”
But plans were complicated, he said, by a UN meeting in NYC during the proposal weekend, and he had to moderate the itinerary.
“The JW Marriott Essex House staff and our friends and family were so accommodating and moved well as the plan evolved,” said Alex. “I told her we had a work event to go to at one point and then I changed this to a luncheon, then I got her brand manager involved and made her [think] it was a photoshoot for the hotel.”
“It got a little hectic, but luckily Olivia was incredibly busy with her Project Lyme speech, so she didn’t catch on to anything at all,” he added.
By the 25th, all his plans were secured, and he and Olivia headed to the upgraded room at the hotel at 3 p.m. while a photographer waited to get some content for social media.
“He is my biggest hype man when it comes to helping me with content so this didn’t seem weird to me, just like a sweet gesture…. he actually got my social media manager involved so I thought this was a brand deal, so I was in work mode,” said Olivia, explaining that she got her phone to figure out the best angles for images.
Image credit: Oliviabflowers/Instagram
“Next thing I know, Alex is getting grabbing a box out of his sports coat and dropping a knee… then I drop my phone,” Olivia quipped. “Alex said, ‘Olivia Barbara Ellen Flowers. You’re the girl of my dreams. Became the love of my life. And I’d like to ask will you marry me?’”
“Looking back now it’s concerning just how many things I didn’t pick up on, but it made for a good surprise. Or several surprises, I should say,” she added.
After he popped the question, Olivia’s mom, dad, and nine friends came “piling” in.
“I could see it on Olivia’s face after the proposal that she was so excited to call her people and share the news, so arranging to have them be there and surprise her was so much fun,” said Alex.
“We opened bottles of champagne and Olivia’s favorite wine and celebrated with everyone on the terrace. We later went to Olivia’s favorite Italian restaurant in NYC, which is also where Alex’s brother and wife surprised them, Trattoria Dell’Arte.”
Olivia was also surprised when — immediately after returning to Dallas, thinking her mom and dad had gone back to Charleston — both her parents and Alex’s parents waited for them at a restaurant in Las Colinas’ Ritz Hotel.
The couple addressed how Dallas is meaningful to both of them, and they shared how they might have actually crossed paths when they were teens growing up.
“Dallas has always been a happy place to my family and I, my brother and I lived our high school years here and have very close friends here so to have a celebration there with our people colliding was so incredible,” said Olivia. “Our families were both members of the Four Seasons Country Club … It’s so wild to think Alex and I were in the same places growing up but never crossed paths!”
On Instagram, Olivia shared photos from the proposal as Alex bent down on one knee. In one image, Alex was moving the phone Olivia dropped.
“‘Engagement photos are corny.’ -Me.. a week ago,” wrote Olivia in the caption. “It was perfection. Thank you all for this unforgettable PROPOSAL… WHAT?! I love you, especially you Alexander.”
