Bride-to-be!

Bachelor Nation fans first met Gabi Elnicki during her search for love on Season 27 of “The Bachelor.”

While things didn’t work out with Bachelor Zach Shallcross, Gabi went public with her boyfriend, Zach Espinosa, in summer 2023.

The two have been going strong ever since, and in October 2025, they announced the exciting news that they are officially engaged!

Gabi has continued to keep fans updated on her life via social media. And this week, she joined the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast to share more about her engagement, time on “The Bachelor,” and more. 

Sharing more about her engagement, Gabi told a funny behind-the-scenes story of the moment Zach proposed. 

“Zach planned a work trip in Newport Beach, which is where my sister lives,” she recalled. “So I thought that was a little bit suspicious. And he booked my flight, which Zach never books my flights, to go see my sister. And we had been traveling for the past month.”

“There’s never been a time where I don’t want to go visit my sister. And this was the one time I was like, I just can’t travel right now. I’m traveled out,” she went on. Gabi remembered that Zach told her he booked her flight already and hoped she would come, which made her suspicious. “I was definitely convinced before we left that I was getting engaged,” she revealed. 

However, when they got there, the Bachelor Nation star said her suspicions went away because Zach actually had to work and her sister swore that she did not have her ring, which she made for her. Apparently it arrived early the next morning, and then everybody left to take family photos. 

“Zach showed up to family photos in basketball shorts. Like athletic clothes, didn’t look nice, he was like, ‘Well, I didn’t want to get in the photos. It’s just for your family,’” Gabi remembered. She laughed about getting upset and remembered feeling like a proposal definitely wasn’t going to happen. During family photos, Gabi shared that her niece started to melt down and noted that at some point Zach changed his clothes but couldn’t recall when. 

Amid the chaos, the photographer suggested taking photos with only Gabi and Zach. “We’ve taken photos with this photographer before, so I didn’t think anything of it. And I really wasn’t paying attention because I was worried about my niece,” she said. Gabi recalled the photographer asked how she was feeling in that moment, and she replied, “annoyed.” 

“I was literally being so rude. I was like, ‘Yeah, Zach had another missed opportunity. Don’t know when we’re gonna get engaged now. Maybe in like three years, because I’m pretty busy.’” She went on, “Then all of a sudden, he started giving his [speech]. Oh, oh my gosh. Someone almost photobombed – took our spot on the rocks too, and the photographer went up to them and was like, ‘Can you please move?’ Because that was the spot they had planned. And they moved out of the way, but I still didn’t think anything of it.”

Gabi stated that she was “very shocked” when Zach proposed and teased him, “I was like, ‘Are you sure you wanna marry me? I just almost went full psycho on you.’” 

Zach surprised Gabi with her friends and his family who flew in, and they all stayed at a cute hotel in La Jolla. He also planned a full private dinner on the water. “It was really beautiful. So he really planned it out and he did surprise me.”

So sweet! Hear the rest of Gabi’s interview in the full episode below.