Sam Helbling of Plum and girlfriend Lydia Houllion of Worthington embrace at the Starlight Drive-In Saturday night where Helbling proposed. She said yes.

CENTER TWP — Lydia Houllion thought she was just going to the drive-in Saturday night.

But that's not what her boyfriend, Sam Helbling, had in mind when the couple arrived at the Starlight Drive-In on Route 8 just before 7 that night.

Helbling, 21, of Plum, said the couple's first date was at that drive-in in July 2015, and after only knowing her for a year and a half, Helbling was ready to ask for Houllion, 22, from Worthington, to marry him.

Armed with a homemade video of the two of them, Helbling approached the drive-in owners, John and Beth Manson, with his idea: using the big screens to propose to Houllion.

Helbling always knew he wanted to do a more elaborate proposal, and having it at the drive-in felt natural, he said.

“I definitely wanted to do something (dramatic). You only get to do it once,” he said. “You got to have excitement in life, things you'll remember. I didn't want it to be something simple, and (proposing at the drive-in) has kind of been something that's always been in the back of my head.”

In fact, Helbling said he's been thinking about the proposal for quite a while now.

“I wanted to (propose) pretty early on, but the actual decision was probably around eight months of dating,” he said.

A little before 7 p.m., Helbling excused himself to go to the concession stand, all part of the plan.

Houllion, in the back of Helbling's pick-up truck, was left alone to watch a four-minute video that Helbling had put together of the best moments the couple has shared.

When the video was over, Helbling walked back to the truck and proposed and, of course, she said yes.

But that was no easy task. Houllion said she was so choked up she could barely answer.“I was crying so hard I couldn't even answer. I was so happy, so surprised. It was perfect,” she said. “I had to choke it out because I had been crying so hard.”But Helbling, frankly, was not worried about Houllion saying no.On Friday afternoon, before the proposal, Helbling said: “I'm not real scared of getting the wrong answer,” he said. “I feel pretty confident in myself ... Not one bit (worried). If I was, I wouldn't do it.”But Helbling had help with his plan, or at least approval, having asked Houllion's brother and father for their blessing before the proposal.In fact, Houllion's parents were hiding at the drive-in, her mother equipped with a box of tissues, Helbling said.“I'm pretty sure they were all crying. Her mom had a box of Kleenex with her,” he said with a laugh.Houllion's brother, who is in the Army and in Kansas, was being FaceTimed by Houllion's mom.Houllion recalls telling a story to her brother and his friends a little more than a year ago, only one week after she started dating Helbling. At a Luke Bryan concert, Houllion said she thought Helbling was the one for her: “I said 'I think he's the one,' and it was only a week. I knew a year ago that he was different and he was going to be the one I was going to spend my life with.”But with the excitement of the proposal, the couple was barely able to pay attention to the movie.“(During) the first movie, we talked a lot and cried a lot. We were both just so happy. We didn't really pay attention to it,” Houllion said.

Perhaps a local first, Sam Helbling of Plum proposes to girlfriend Lydia Houllion of Worthington at the Starllight Drive-in in Center Twp where they had they pair had their first date. She said yes.