Canadian Mal Harris had the romantic idea of proposing to her girlfriend, Olivia Fader, on the Brooklyn Bridge. But what should have been a beautiful moment was almost ruined when the ring fell from the iconic expanse.

Originally the women were going to the bridge to attach a pair of "love locks," as many couples have done. But Harris had attached a emerald-cut diamond ring to the lock she presented Fader.

But she opened the lock, the ring popped out, fell to the ground and slipped through the wooden planks.

Fader described the nerve-wracking incident on their blog:

[Mal] carefully slid the key into the lock, and turned it. As Madeleine and Erin had both the ring and lock in their possession until this moment, Mal had never practiced this simple movement. As she turned the key, the lock popped open, and swung down. The ring slid off of the lock, and sat for a moment between two planks of the boardwalk.

No sooner had this thought occurred, the ring slipped through the space and fell into oblivion.

Within seconds we were all on our hands and knees, our eyes pressed between the wooden planks, searching for the delicate diamond ring – a diamond in the rough.

40 feet below us, on an industrial platform (inaccessible to the public) we spotted the ring. I attempted to keep Mal calm while Madeleine ran back to where she had seen NYPD officers.

Fortunately, two NYPD officers were able to access the area and retrieve the ring. Harris and Fader had a do-over proposal (Fader said "yes,") and are now looking to tie the knot next August.

“The Universe works in mysterious ways; we both certainly believe that now,” wrote Fader.

h/t: Buzzfeed