Jonathan Bennett is engaged!
The actor, who is 39 years old and is best known for playing Aaron Samuels in the 2004 comedy classic Mean Girls, said “Yes!” when his boyfriend Jaymes Vaughan got down on one knee and asked him to marry him. He also wrote him a song for the sweet time. Bennett showed exclusive video of the emotional moment to PEOPLE and said that the proposal came as a complete surprise.
Bennett is the main character in The Christmas House, a new Hallmark Channel holiday movie. It is the first Christmas movie on the channel where the main character is gay. Vaughan started thinking of a cute way to ask his girlfriend to marry him while he was away making the movie.
Bennett says of Vaughan, a TV host and the main anchor of Celebrity Page, “I love that I can be myself without having to apologise, and I love that he loves me no matter what.”
People asked the soon-to-be-husbands about their relationship and what they had planned for their wedding.
Jonathan: He made a song for me! We would always hear songs and think, “Oh, that would be our song if only this part or that part was different.” Because of this, we never had a song that was “ours.”
So, while he was in Canada filming The Christmas House for Hallmark, I got together with my friend Tanzer, who is a great producer and my favourite person to write songs with, and said, “Let’s make this magical for Jonathan.”
From there, we got a guitar, pulled it out, and just kept building until we had this huge song that I knew was the one. It’s amazing how much magic can happen when you get together with a friend and a guitar to make something to tell someone you want to be with them for the rest of your life. I don’t know how I would have done this if he hadn’t been filming in Canada for six weeks.
Jonathan: I was told that we would be taking family Christmas card photos, so Jaymes’s photographer friend Eric (Ita) and my photographer nephew Andrew were both here (Herner). But then no one would look me in the eye, and I was like, “What’s going on?” I found out later that they didn’t say anything because they didn’t want to give away what was going to happen.
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When my sister yelled at me to come outside “right away,” my F.O.M.O. kicked in, and I ran outside. Then I looked over and saw Jaymes holding a sign that said, “We never did find our song, so I wrote it for you.” That’s when I knew I was getting proposed to, because it was the same kind of sign he made when he told me he loved me for the first time. Then I started crying in the worst way anyone has ever cried.
Jaymes: I had already told everyone that he would do that.
Jonathan: Then I heard a song coming from somewhere I didn’t even know we had a speaker, and Jaymes told me to just listen. It was Jaymes singing the most beautiful song I had ever heard, which was about us. I’ve always liked his voice, so hearing him sing to me was a very special experience. It’s hard to explain how it feels to have a song written about you that is so specific and makes you feel better about all your fears. I’ve never heard a better song.
Jaymes: Jonathan wrote every part of the song himself. Even the way the melody was put together was based on how I thought he’d sing it back to me. He sings things back to me in this really cute way. I just wanted him to feel like the most important person in the world for those three minutes when he heard the song for the first time.
Jonathan: I did as well. Then I had to walk over to him, and I wondered when our yard got so big. I felt like I was moving really slowly.
Jaymes: I just remember seeing him start to cry, and all of my nerves went away. I went into protector mode and just held him. I thought I was going to be the one who was a mess, but seeing him in that state made me change my mind.
Jonathan: It’s hard for me to remember what else happened because I think my body just blacked out and cried in a disgusting way. All I could do was cry in an ugly way. But I just remember feeling like I was home. As soon as I saw him with the sign, I knew he was going to ask me out. Why else would you be in our yard with a sign, my family there, a song playing, and your friend and my nephew filming it?
Jaymes: I’ve been dreaming about asking Jonathan to marry me for a long time. I wanted someone to record the whole thing so I could see Jonathan’s face in that moment again and again.
Jonathan: When I saw Jaymes take a knee, I was so happy I couldn’t find the right words and just started screaming hysterically. There was a moment when you thought, “Oh, this is forever, I get it.” I immediately yelled, “Yes!” In fact, it was “Yes!” Of course! ”
How Has Life Changed Since Becoming Engaged?
Jonathan: It happened right now. But I can say that the song and the ring give me a lot of comfort because I know what my future will be. When I look at the ring, the song’s words come to life. Jaymes: I’m excited about everything, to be honest.
PEOPLE: What do you love most about each other?
Jonathan: I love how I feel when I’m with him. When I’m with him, I feel safe and loved.
Jaymes: I love that he makes me think. When Jonathan Bennett is your other half, you never have a dull moment. Jonathan: I love that I can be myself without apology, and I love that he loves me no matter what.
Jaymes: I think the best thing about our relationship is that we are each other’s best friend first and foremost. And he’s pretty interesting to look at too!
Jonathan: We have something very special. It’s the kind of thing that inspires movies or, in this case, songs. I think we both knew we were going to be each other’s person the day we met on the set of Jaymes’s show. Being with him feels like being with family. I feel like there’s nothing we can’t do when we’re together.
Jaymes: “Two Kings, One Kingdom” is something we’ve always said about our relationship, and I think it’s one of the things that makes us the strongest. Realizing that your partner is also a member of your team.
What kind of wedding do you both envision?
Oh boy, here we go, said Jaymes.
This is my favourite question, Jonathan.
Jaymes: I want something old-fashioned…
Jonathan: I’m thinking of something between when Elphaba flies in the musical Wicked and the last song in The Greatest Showman.
Jaymes: So it’s a kid’s birthday party, right?
Jonathan: Or we could make it easier, like Elle Woods does in Legally Blonde: The Musical, and I could just come out on a hydraulic stage from under the ground.
Jaymes: See, he keeps me on my toes all the time. Also, that isn’t going to happen. But also, really, anything that makes him smile.
Jonathan: I’m so excited about getting married!