Bethenny Frankel can officially change her status from single girl to engaged girl.
Although it was reported that “The Real Housewives of New York City” star and boyfriend Jason Hoppy got engaged over the summer, Frankel confirms to PEOPLE she accepted Hoppy’s proposal on Oct. 8 after an 11-month courtship.
“It feels great, because I’m with the right person,” says Frankel, 38. “He’s may be regretting it because it’s been beyond a week and he’s in panic mode — (but) no, we’re enjoying it.”
Adds Hoppy, 38, “She is very much a handful but one thing she did say to me is she needs a man that can handle her and that I can.”
In fact, Hoppy caught the usually unflappable Frankel off guard with his proposal — and even managed to include her beloved dog in on the plan.
Candlelight, roses and clean-up duty After a day of shooting “Housewives” and promoting her Skinny Girl Margaritas, Frankel arrived home to her Upper East Side apartment to find over a hundred lit votive candles and rose petals strewn across the darkened hallway.
With Frankel’s Lhasa mix pooch Cookie (dressed for the occasion in a pink bow) as witness, Hoppy got down on one knee and told her: “You are the love of my life. Will you marry me?”
Hoppy then presented Frankel with an 8-carat sparkler with a 6 ½-carat pear-shaped center stone flanked by two side stones from Manhattan jeweler Kristin Farrell.
Before the couple celebrated their engagement with a seven-course tasting menu at Manhattan restaurant Jean Georges, the first order of business was cleaning up the rose petals from Frankel’s camel-colored carpet with Resolve.
Frankel jokes, “I made him pick them up. This was the first thing we had to resolve.”
The couple, who first met in December 2008 at Tenjune nightclub, have not set a wedding date yet.