California Man Surprises Girlfriend With Epic Skydiving Proposal

A northern California man surprised his longtime girlfriend with an epic, high-flying proposal when the couple went skydiving for the first time.

As Erin Breyfogle flew through the air, she looked down and saw the message "Will You Marry Me Erin?" written on the ground. When she landed in a parachute, she found her boyfriend, Matthew Cardona, down on one knee with a ring in his hands.

"I was so shocked and surprised, but I was so happy, I couldn't even respond correctly when he asked me," Breyfogle told ABC News today. "It was definitely a huge surprise."

"When I was about 500 or 400 feet above the ground I saw the message, and it said 'Will you marry me?' and I thought in my head, 'I wonder if that's for me?'" Breyfogle explained. "And then I saw it said 'Will you marry me Erin?' And then I started crying, and my skydiving instructor said 'Okay, we have to land now.'"

"All my family, and all his family, and all his friends were there. I was so dumbfounded," she said.

Cardona said the proposal took a couple months of planning, and he was a bit worried about going through with it because he was afraid of heights. He told ABC News that he got the idea when Breyfogle had mentioned to him that she really wanted to go skydiving.

"I had the idea for about four months in advance, I mentioned it to my brother first about two months ago and he was like 'You have to do it,' and I was like 'I'm so scared, I don't know if I'll pass out, I'm afraid of heights,'" Cardona said.

Cardona then ran the idea by Breyfogle's mother, who he said loved it. So, he started calling the skydiving company in Monterey Bay, who were in on it the whole time, in order to plan everything out.

"I booked it about a month-and-a-half in advance and I would call them every couple of weeks," Cardona explained. "I made a Facebook page and invited a bunch of family to be there," he said, but remained worried that Breyfogle would find out about his idea.

When he saw her flying down toward him, he said he could already hear her crying with joy, and felt incredibly happy that he pulled off the surprise.

"She comes down and I could already hear her crying as she was coming down to the ground. It was just a great memory to have," Cardona said, "She had no idea."

The couple, who have been together for eight years, after meeting in high school and going to college together, said they were very excited for the adventures the future holds for them.

"We're just really excited, really happy," Cardona said, "We've come a long way from going to rival high schools."