Tom & Katie's Wild Ride

06/23/2005 at 06:00 AM EDT

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Say you're Tom Cruise and you want to propose to your "magnificent" girlfriend of just over two months, Katie Holmes. Step one: Contact Paris city hall several days before the big night and arrange an after-hours visit to the Eiffel Tower. Step two: Secretly stash one sizable oval-shaped diamond stunner. (When did he buy the ring? "A while ago," Cruise told PEOPLE.) Step three: After a private trip to the observation deck, pop the question at the Tower's famed Jules Verne restaurant over a late-night candlelit dinner served with Laurent-Perrier Cuvée Rosé Champagne. "They were very low-key," says a waiter, adding that Cruise never dropped to one knee. "They sat overlooking the lights of Paris. They were so happy." And finally: Announce the news to the entire world less than eight hours later. "What a day! What a night last night!" an ecstatic Cruise declared on June 17. "Today is my favorite day in my entire life. . . . I'll never forget this day. Ever."