How a Bradenton fishing captain hooked his love with a surprise engagement proposal
Jon Schnering planned it about a year in advance.
But he kept it close to the vest, only letting his best friend know. Then as the week came to pull the trigger, it was time to include his family, friends and the family and friends of his girlfriend.
The plan?
Take his other half to “the Cut,” — a place on the water between Terra Ceia Bay and the Manatee River — in his boat, so he could propose in front of family and friends situated along a bridge with a banner asking the pointed question, “Amanda, will you marry me?”
Family and friends also lined the other side at the Bradenton Yacht Club.
“She was completely shocked,” Schnering said. “Had no idea.”
On July 23, Amanda Daniels said yes.
Schnering’s plan involved bringing Daniels on board his Bradenton Fishing Charter tour with clients, which have turned into friends. Nothing was out of the ordinary as the couple enjoys fishing together.
When Schnering dropped off the charter passengers at the dock, Daniels was trying to get off to get food.
Schnering had to act fast. He said he told Daniels that a friend’s boat was out of gas and needed a tow.
As they approached the area where the friend’s boat was supposed to be, Daniels noticed it was nowhere in sight. She also spotted family walking around the Bradenton Yacht Club with champagne glasses.
Schnering told her to look behind, and that’s when the banner dropped and he dropped to one knee in the boat to ask her to be his wife.
“I noticed our family basically walking toward the boat,” Daniels said. “That’s who I noticed first. I was like, ‘Why are they here? What is going on?’ Everybody was kind of dressed up. They had champagne glasses in their hands and I said, ‘What is that?’ And he goes, ‘Look behind you.’ I looked behind me and was like, ‘Oh my gosh. No way!’”
That family included Daniels’ grandmother Claire Slinko and Schnering’s parents Russel and Leslie, along with their many friends.
The couple attended Manatee High School, but are of different ages. Jon is 29 and Amanda, a server at Tide Tables, is 30. They didn’t start dating until close to two years ago, though Amanda knew Schnering was her future husband a couple of months before that.
“He had come in for a to-go order from Tide Tables,” Daniels said. “It was funny because he was walking away on the dock and I was inside. And I looked at one of my co-workers and said, ‘That’s my future husband right there.’ Before I even talked to him really.”
But it wasn’t until Schnering arrived at Tide Tables to eat with a group of friends that the two started their romantic journey together. The restaurant was closed for summer cleaning, so Daniels said she was going somewhere to eat and invited the group.
“She’s friends with a lot of my friends,” said Schnering, a former U.S. Marine. “She’s like, ‘We’re going to this restaurant.’ We ended up linking up there and that’s kind of when we first really hit it off. And kind of been hanging out ever since.”
The couple has a to-be-determined wedding date. First, they’re heading to Costa Rica in August for a vacation, where they already have a couple of chartered fishing trips lined up.
Then they’ll start the wedding planning, Amanda said.
