NEED TO KNOW
- A bride-to-be tried to take an aesthetic photo of her engagement ring in the snow
- As soon as she set the ring in the snow, it sank and disappeared from view
- The heart-stopping moment went viral on TikTok, racking up more than 12 million views
Lexi Mars just wanted an aesthetic photo.
The 31-year-old content creator and influencer, who’s based in Chicago, was in Finland with her fiancé, Alex, when she decided to snap a photo of her engagement ring resting in the snow. The moment didn’t feel risky — just picturesque.
“I was honestly just trying to get a pretty, aesthetic photo of the ring in the snow. It didn’t feel risky in the moment – I just wanted to get a picture of it sparkling in the snow,” Mars tells PEOPLE exclusively.
The couple, who got engaged last year, were alone in a snowy forest on the very last day of their trip, just as the sun was starting to set.
“I even asked, ‘Should I do it?’ and he said, ‘Yeah, yeah, do it,’ which you can actually hear in the video,” she recalls.
Seconds later, the ring disappeared.
“Pure panic. I froze up for a moment, but my first thought was, ‘It’s gone. It’s actually gone.’ ”
Her fiancé reacted immediately, telling her to grab it. Mars began carefully digging where the ring had vanished, terrified of making the situation worse.
“Yes – I dug a hole, but very gently because I was terrified of pushing it down even deeper! Also, we were racing against the light at that point, which made it a bit more stressful than it already was!”
As daylight faded, the couple continued searching — even turning on their phone flash to see.
“Thankfully, yes. We found it just in time, right before the sun completely went down. In the video, you can even see we had to turn the flash on because it was getting so dark.”
Later, Mars decided to share the moment on TikTok.
“I shared it because it felt like the most ‘me’ thing that could possibly happen. At the same time, I felt kind of embarrassed and thought it was a really stupid mistake,” Mars admits. “I genuinely didn’t think it would go viral at all — I was mostly posting it for my own memories because, looking back, it was funny.”
The video quickly gained traction, reaching over 12 million views.
“So many people were shocked that I even attempted it, and a lot of comments were joking about how brave – or reckless – that was. Others shared similar stories of losing rings in snow or sand, which honestly made me feel less crazy for attempting it in the first place!”
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Looking back, Mars says the experience taught her an important lesson.
“Do not put your ring down in snow, sand, or anywhere it can sink or blow away. The snow will absolutely not hold up a 7-carat diamond ring, especially fresh powder. Lesson learned!”
Despite the scare, she’s grateful the moment had a happy ending.
“I’m just extremely grateful it ended with a happy ending. It could have gone very differently.”
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