Bachelor Nation’s Blake Horstmann and Giannina Gibelli are engaged after nearly three years together — and she calls it “the best feeling in the world.”
Horstmann, 35, proposed to Gibelli, 31, late last month while on a trip to Madrid, Spain. He got down on one knee at the Parque del Retiro and popped the question with a 4.87-carat lab-grown diamond ring from Brilliant Earth.
“I had been looking for the perfect ring for over a year,” Horstmann told People, when sharing the engagement news on Wednesday, November 20. “I had an idea of what she wanted — cut, clarity, etc. — but I didn’t want to go and pick out a ring with her. I really wanted the ring to be a complete surprise.”
He continued, “When she did finally see [the ring], she was breathless and so happy, so that felt really amazing. We are over the moon and we can’t wait to be married in front of our loved ones.”
Reality television fans were shook when Horstmann and Gibelli started dating after appearing on season 1 of the Paramount+ show All Star Shore. In January 2022, Us confirmed that they were officially dating but had to keep a low-profile as their reality show hadn’t premiered yet.
“Our love story has been everything I’ve always dreamt it would be and more,” Gibelli told People on Wednesday. “As soon as I met Blake, I knew he was my soulmate and I know the universe was always leading me to him. Being together forever and creating our family is literally the joy of my life.”
Following the official All Star Shore announcement in June 2022, Gibelli was quick to speak publicly about her man. They moved in together by November of that year and announced the following November they were expecting their first baby together.
Us exclusively confirmed in March that Horstmann and Gibelli welcomed a baby boy named Heath Orion.
“Our baby is his father’s twin!” Gibelli gushed to Us at the time. “There are so many similarities it’s adorable to see them light up in each other. As far as personality goes, he’s an Aries like his mama so we’ll see, he just might be the perfect mix of both of us.”
Gibelli told Us that she “caught” Heath during his birth, just before Horstmann cut the umbilical cord.
“It was the coolest, most empowering and most badass thing I’ve done in my entire life,” she recalled. “You’re conditioned to think it’s this scary thing but even during the hardest parts I had the biggest smile on my face, I literally couldn’t hide how happy it made me.”
By June, the couple were fully in mom and dad mode — revealing that there’s no rush for them to get married.
“It was like, ‘Let’s not put another thing on our [to-do list].’ Let’s just do that on our time,” Horstmann said on the “Almost Famous” podcast at the time, noting that they’re looking to get married “on our time” in order to make their son a priority.
As the summer came to an end, Horstmann and Gibelli were still basking in that new parent mode, telling Us exclusively about Heat’s “latest milestones” like the “awesome” moment he “rolled over” for the first time. Gibelli also revealed that their baby boy said his first word.
“On the plane ride over, he yelled, ‘Ma,’” she said. Horstmann, however, “wasn’t there to witness this” so he couldn’t verify.
The couple also teased more kids in their future.
“I want the whole basketball team. I really do,” Gibelli said. “I literally popped him out and I was like, ‘Let’s do it again!’”
