Matthew Sones surprised his girlfriend, Megan Matza, with an engagement proposal at Bradley Beach. The sand castle he commissioned carried a message in a heart that said, “Will you marry me, Megan?” When Matthew Sones asked his girlfriend, Megan Matza, to take a walk on the oceanfront promenade at Bradley Beach on April 5, she did not think anything of it. That’s because this was one thing the couple has enjoyed doing since they met on JDate almost two years ago and really hit it off, according to Matthew.
As they walked along, they noticed a man building a giant sand castle on the beach at Ocean and Cliff avenues. When they stopped to admire his work, he stepped aside and revealed a heart in the center of the sand castle that said, “Will you marry me, Megan?”
As Matthew got down on one knee and presented Megan with an engagement ring, her sunglasses could barely hide the tears of joy trickling down her cheeks.
“He got down on one knee and asked me if I want to spend the rest of my life with him,” Megan said.
Of course, she said “Yes.”
“I was pretty much in shock,” said Megan, a native of Manalapan who is a teacher at Freehold High School, Freehold Borough. “I had no idea, and the castle itself was absolutely beautiful.”
Matthew, who hails from Pennsylvania, said it was a challenge for him to surprise Megan because she is always very aware of everything that happens in her life. But he pulled it off.
“I thought for a long, long time about how I wanted to do it. And the beach — in particular, Bradley Beach — has always been a place Megan and I love,” he said. “Whenever we go there, we get a nostalgic, really happy feeling. I figured it would be great if I could do something on the beach in terms of how to propose.”
Matthew said he found John Gruber, who specializes in creating sand castles for such occasions. Gruber worked on the sand castle for about six hours.
When Megan stopped to admire Gruber’s creation, she had no idea the castle was built for her.
“It was typical for us to go down there, because Matt used to live in that area of Bradley Beach,” Megan said. “Bradley Beach has so much significance to us and our relationship.” Matthew lived in Bradley Beach last year while he was doing his general practice residency in dentistry at Monmouth Medical Center, Long Branch, and the couple enjoyed looking at the ocean from that very spot. He hopes to eventually practice pediatric dentistry at the Jersey Shore.
Matthew had one more surprise for the love of his life that day.
Megan’s parents, Mindy and Steven Matza, and her brother, Brian, were there to witness the beach proposal from the promenade, along with Matthew’s mom, Marla Sones; his step-dad, Ray Gardner; and Matthew’s brother, Jordan Sones, who was hiding behind Megan and taking pictures the whole time.
“They told me my brother was going back to the city and my parents were going to their friends’ house, and I was completely surprised,” Megan said.
She said that although she did not realize it at the time, she was later told there were people on the boardwalk clapping when she accepted his proposal. “I was hysterical,” Megan said. “I was in complete shock, but it was such a happy, happy time.”
“It turned out to be a beautiful day,” Matthew said. “It was very nice.”
The happy couple plan to tie the knot in the summer of 2015. However, Megan joked that it is not likely they will have a beach wedding, because she does not want to get sand in her toes on that day.