Author Anna Kloots’ Engagement

Anna Kloots, a New York Times bestselling author and content creator, has a love story that reads like a modern-day fairytale. It all began during a lockdown in Paris, where she found love in the most unexpected place: with her upstairs neighbor. We chatted with Anna about her incredible journey to finding love, the hilarious story of her engagement, and why a pre-loved ring with a Parisian history was the only option for her.

Anna’s story began with a serendipitous encounter on October 28, 2020. Paris had just re-entered a strict lockdown, and Anna was savoring the last moments of freedom on the street outside her building. She was standing there, blocking the door with an armload of flowers from her best friend’s shop, when her upstairs neighbor tried to enter.

“I lowered my flowers, and it was like, ‘You live here?’ ‘You live here?’” Anna recalls. “In a bad French, English, limited-speaking because I had too much wine.”

He returned to her door 15 minutes later with a vase and a bottle of wine. The two spent the night talking, laughing, and dancing to Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling In Love.”

“He stood up out of nowhere and was just like, ‘Do you want to dance with me?’” she shares.

The lockdown forced them to spend every night together, cooking and talking, which Anna says helped them get to know each other very quickly. It was the perfect “pressure cooker” to test their connection. Anna had just finalized her divorce and was not looking for a relationship, but she couldn’t deny their instant bond.

The couple’s relationship blossomed, and as time passed, Anna’s views on marriage began to change. As someone who had “a wedding but never a marriage,” she was initially hesitant to take that step again. But one day, while sitting in church with her now-fiancé, she had a revelation.

“I realized I do want a marriage. I never got to have one, and I would like to try,” Anna shares.

He had proposed a few times before, but Anna felt she wasn’t ready. This time, however, she approached him and told him she was ready. He insisted on a proper proposal and ring, wanting to create a romantic moment for them both.

Anna’s only request for a ring was that it be an antique from Paris with a story. She didn’t want a “new” ring and loved the idea of it having a history.

As they scoured antique jewelry stores, they came across a special shape that instantly caught her eye—a marquee. “I saw one when we were down in Antibes, and the woman said, ‘Do you know the story behind this?’” Anna explains. “She said, King Louis had it made… in the shape of the lips of his lover because they’re so perfect.”

She knew that was the ring for her. On a walk one day with their dog, they found the perfect antique marquee ring in a window display. He purchased the ring, secretly having the band redesigned to match a different style she had liked, and then surprised her with a proposal.