Couple celebrates engagement with enchanting mermaid-themed photo shoot

— -- One man made quite the splash with his epic proposal. Eric Martinez not only pulled off the initial surprise of popping the question in a beautiful sun-drenched dry cave, but then also arranged a whimsical mermaid-themed photo shoot by Del Sol Photography in Riviera Maya, Mexico.

“I wanted it to be so memorable and so special and obviously unforgettable,” Martinez, 40, told ABC News of the enchanting underwater engagement celebration to his now-fiancée, Cammy Rynae Cuoco. “I didn’t want to do a plain Jane proposal. Why do it if you’re just going to take someone to a restaurant? That’s the way I am.”

He said he tried to incorporate “everything she loves” into the special day: “The mermaid, the dolphin, her favorite photography company, I tried to bring it all into one big proposal.”

It’s safe to say Martinez certainly accomplished that and more. He contacted Del Sol Photography two months before he planned to propose as he knew Cuoco admired their work and wanted her to have the perfect photos for her to remember the occasion forever. Once he began brainstorming ideas with the photographers, they knew a mermaid theme was the perfect option for the Ariel-loving bride-to-be, and even made the sequined mermaid skirt for Cuoco to wear by hand.

“I’ve always loved princesses and Ariel from ‘The Little Mermaid’ was always my favorite,” Cuoco, 26, said. “She got to do whatever she wanted and swim with the animals and she got to swim with dolphins, which is my second favorite thing in the world.”

Martinez proposed to Cuoco with a gorgeous ring inside a crystal-studded dolphin box, which Cuoco said she wasn’t expecting.

“We drive about 10 minutes in this horrible taxi ride in the middle of jungle and I’m like, ‘What the heck is going on?’” she recalled. “We go into this beautiful dry cave and that’s where he actually proposed.”

But unbeknownst to Cuoco, that wasn’t the only surprise he had in store for her. When he then told her they would be partaking in a mermaid-themed photo shoot to celebrate the occasion, she “couldn’t stop smiling and freaking out,” said Cuoco.

The San Antonio, Texas, couple is now planning to wed in Mexico and can’t wait work with Del Sol Photography again.