For a full month, a man managed to photobomb his girlfriend by shooting engagement ring photos without her knowing. And he claims he couldn’t have done it unless he was a spontaneous person.

Edi Okoro, from the United Kingdom, claimed he got the idea when his girlfriend, Cally Read, nearly caught him carrying the ring.

“After a month or so of waiting for the proper opportunity, I was sitting on the sofa admiring my beloved” (yeah, I had grown really attached to this ring by this point), and it hit me… All of these lost opportunities, along with the realization that Cally has no idea I have the ring! “I should simply start photographing these situations!” he said on Facebook.

He liked the concept because he wanted to “propose in a way that speaks to you as a person and relationship.” “Some plan a flash mob, a beautiful lunch, or even a “marry me” sign,” he joked. I couldn’t do it because “Edi doesn’t plan”—I’m improvisational!

So he started taking shots at the appropriate times.

“This immediately evolved into attempting to capture as many images of Cally with the ring without her knowing!” he explained. Yes, she had no idea what I was doing in these pictures!

His plan was to photograph as many risky scenarios as he could until “I found the right opportunity to propose, or until I got caught, at which point I would propose!”

“Left it in her jewelry plate for two days… she didn’t see it.”

He was not apprehended, but he did find the ideal opportunity to propose.

“So we ended up getting engaged, and no, I wasn’t caught,” he explained. “We shot this picture shortly after she said YES.”

And they got married!

Okoro later said that Cally was unaware of his secret “collection of images” for several weeks. We’d say his “no plan” strategy worked out very nicely!