After man proposed marriage to his girlfriend, he proposed fatherhood to her daughter

— -- One man knew that if he wanted to propose to his girlfriend, he also had to propose fatherhood to her daughter from a previous relationship.

So Grant Tribbett did just that.

After finding the perfect spot to propose -- on a bridge inside Ritchey Woods Nature Preserve in Fishers, Indiana -- he called his friend, photographer Mandi Gilliland, "and came up with a plan for her to hide out in the woods right by the bridge about 30 minutes before we would arrive the next day," Tribbett told ABC News.

On May 27, Tribbett along with his now-fiancée Cassandra Reschar and her 5-year-old daughter, Adrianna, first had breakfast at their local Cracker Barrel. Then Tribbett led them out to his spot on the bridge.

"I get on one knee and ask for her hand in marriage. After she says yes, I then get down again with a heart-shaped necklace and ask her daughter Adrianna if I could be her daddy and that I promised to love and protect her always," Tribbett, 29, detailed.

At that thoughtful moment, Reschar, 26, told ABC News that she began shaking and "crying, and not the cute kind of crying either."

"It just took my breath away," she continued. "It's been a long time coming for her. It's just every prayer that I've had since she was little that I could find someone who loved her just as much."

Little Adrianna also said yes. And now, the couple plans to wed in a December wedding, to be held inside a barn, in front of 125 guests.

Photos of the couple's proposal went viral last week on How He Asked, an Instagram account run by The Knot.

Tribbett said it was important for him to include his now-fiancée's daughter in his proposal.

"I knew proposing to Cassandra [meant] that I also would be committing to a lifetime of fatherhood. So what better way to ask the love of my life to marry me than to ask her beloved daughter to get the honor to be her daddy?" he explained.

The future groom, who recently moved from St. Louis to Westfield, Indiana to live with Reschar, told ABC News he's now looking forward to "going through life with one another every day."

"[I'm] also excited to be a father to Adrianna and help raise her," he continued. "And hopefully be as good of a parent that my parents were for me."

Reschar added that she knows her soon-to-be husband will be "a very loving and supportive father."

"He leads by example and he's definitely an example she could follow," she added.