1 Man Proposed to His Girlfriend With the Help of 16 Dogs, and Our Newsroom Is Collectively Shrieking

Laura Stampler, a writer and the author of the YA book Little Black Dresses, Little White Lies, has always been completely obsessed with dogs. So much so that when it came time for her boyfriend of four years — Maurice Goldstein — to propose, he brought along 16 pups to mark the occasion on a romantic hike in Runyon Canyon. Fortunately, Maurice enlisted the help of Los Angeles-based photographer Rebecca Yale to capture the memorable moment, and we're just in plain awe.

"I'm a big dog-lover — as is he," Laura told POPSUGAR. "We both grew up with rescues, and Maurice's family's German shepherd Scout actually goes running off-leash in the California mountains once a week with Pack of Hearts, a group run by Tony Vercillo." As a former staff writer for Time, she also got the chance to carve out a pet-related beat for herself, which included writing hilarious stories on "sexy Halloween costumes for pets."

Although Maurice and Laura had met three years beforehand, it wasn't until they matched on Tinder in 2014 that they got together. Fast forward four blissful years, and Maurice knew exactly how he was going to pop the question: with dogs from Pack of Hearts, of course! As soon as Laura said yes, the group of pups ran right toward her to offer up their own form of congratulations.

"I was beyond blown away," said Laura. "There were so many layers [of the proposal], and each dimension was specific to our relationship and shared interests. From the singing (I was a huge choir nerd) to the dogs to one of my best friends capturing it all! And after that, Maurice took both our families to dinner — including my grandparents, which was incredibly meaningful."

Although the pair aren't planning on becoming full-on dog parents just yet, they recently got approved to foster through a rescue group called Muddy Paws — a NY-based organization that places dogs temporarily before finding their forever homes — and the timing couldn't be more perfect.

"We don't think we're ready for a full-time dog yet — we want to do some extended travel in the next couple years — but we would love to have dogs in our lives before then," said Laura, adding that, "We went to a foster event the week after we got engaged, have done our interviews, and have now been approved!"

Keep reading to get a look at the couple's jaw-dropping proposal and try not to get insanely jealous in the process.