The internet has seen itself plenty of adorable Harry Potter proposals, but none quite so adorable or elaborate as this man who proposed with a handmade Marauder's Map. Evan Onuskanych surprised his girlfriend of five years (now fiancée!) with a handmade, personalized, and ridiculously precious version of the Marauder's Map, tailor made to all the special places they have shared throughout their relationship. The pair began dating as seniors in high school, then luckily both attended Penn State together. The map Onuskanych created is an adorkable testament to every milestone they've shared since then.
Onuskanych first had the idea because Davis has been a lifelong fan of the Harry Potter novels, enough so that her enthusiasm and a trip to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter their senior year of college inspired Onuskanych to read the books and become a fan as well. (Further proof that Potterheads always convert the rest of the population eventually.)
"The idea kind of just sprang into existence when I thought about the map knowing exactly where everyone is," Onuskanych told Bustle. "After looking online for hours on end, I realized nothing like this really existed. I used a template based off the original marauders map for the covers, but went custom from there."
His first challenge? He had to make sure that the pair of them were in the exact spot the Marauder's Map said they would be when he proposed. Onuskanych carefully planned to take Davis to her favorite spot, a trail that has sand along the creek that she nicknamed "The Beach".
"I broke it up into four major parts of our lives: where we met, our first memories, college, and the present," Onuskanych explained to Bustle. Among them were Spring-Ford ("SF" on the map), the high school where they met; Steel City, the coffee shop where they went on their first date; and the buildings they lived in at Penn State and where they had most of their classes. He even included their close mutual friends as figures on the map to really personalize it.
Of course, it all ended on "The Beach". According to Onuskanych, Davis's reaction was every bit the same as you could expect from any Potterhead in love: "She cried... a lot. She was shocked and extremely happy. She just kept saying 'is this for real?'" said Onuskanych.
As for the wedding, Onuskanych said that there would likely be "small, subtle hints of HP" in the decor but that "If she had her way, the whole thing would be HP themed." In the meantime, might I suggest going full out on a Harry Potter themed bachelorette party? (I'm not even slightly embarrassed that I am a very single woman who has also very elaborately written about how to do that.)
Congrats, Evan Onuskanych and Kelsey Davis! Nerdy #RelationshipGoals forever and for always.
Images: Courtesy of Evan Onuskanych
