When Jennifer Storrar, 24, kayaked across a lake this June with her boyfriend, Troy Reddington, 25, to find a time capsule they had buried five years ago, she had no idea that the past she was digging up would actually reveal her future. The time capsule was supposed to be filled with the couple’s favourite songs, old cellphones and their dream jobs; instead, Jennifer found a cleaned-out jar of peanut butter with a note wrapped in ribbon inside which read “Will you marry me?”

In May, Reddington had snuck out in the middle of the night to the island campsite on Eagle Lake in South River, Ont. to replace the contents of the old jar with a new one containing the proposal letter. He had come up with the idea three years after they had buried the capsule while they were sitting around a campfire and talking about it.

“It kind of struck me that this would really work,” Reddington said in a telephone interview with CTVNews.ca “I’m not ready to get engaged yet but when I am, this is what I want to do.”

Reddington waited another two years before sneaking back out the island at 3 a.m. to set up the elaborate proposal before heading to his job at the Ontario SPCA. Storrar didn’t notice a thing. When they decided to make the drive up north from their home in Caledon, Ont. to retrieve the capsule, he convinced Storrar, a dietary aide who went to school for film, to record the entire journey – little did she know that she would be taping her own proposal video. He said they took their time filming a variety of shots on the way there so he could prolong the day and ready himself.

“I was buying myself time to one, mentally prepare myself and two, to just make the day more enjoyable,” he said. “I’m pacing back and forth in the video. I was extremely nervous.”

The romantic 12-minute video shows the couple driving on country roads and kayaking across a scenic lake before they reach the island with the time capsule. Reddington said that Storrar was initially angry when she saw the new jar in the capsule thinking that someone had replaced the original contents without her knowledge. He said her reaction immediately changed once she read his letter.

“I’ve never seen her so happy in my life,” Reddington said. “She was crying and she almost made me cry actually, which never happens.”

In the video, a surprised Storrar embraces Reddington after saying “yes” and then playfully shows off her new diamond ring before they head back to their kayaks.

In July, Reddington posted the video on YouTube and it has already received more than 14,000 views. He says the feedback to it has mostly been positive, although some men have said that his grand gesture is a tough act to follow.

“Most comments that I’ve received from men are ‘Thanks for ruining it for everyone else,’” he said with a laugh.

Reddington says he would like to buy a house before they tie the knot, but that they are expecting to get married in the next two to three years. Before then, he’s hoping his romantic video will get him a guest spot on the daytime talk show “Ellen.”