Hunter Fieri Says He Designed Fiancée Tara Bernstein's Engagement Ring with Pickleball in Mind (Exclusive)

When it came to designing fiancée Tara Bernstein’s engagement ring, Hunter Fieri thought of everything.

While chatting with PEOPLE about his and Bernstein’s love story, the eldest son of Guy Fieri revealed that he considered every factor while creating her ring, because it had to be “perfect.”

“We're very open, and as we were discussing wanting to be married to each other, we looked at some rings, and I got a feel for what she wanted,” Hunter, 27, tells PEOPLE. “And then I worked with a buddy of mine to make a custom ring for her, and I wanted it to be really special.”

“My goal in life is you do this once, and when you do it once, it's got to be perfect,” he adds of the custom sparkler. “So I made a ring for her that I think signifies my love for her.”

But it wasn’t just his love for Bernstein he considered while creating the piece — it was also her love of pickleball.

While working on the ring, Hunter said he told the designer, a “longtime friend,” that, "with pickleball, the goal is to never take it off.”

“And so [the designer] made it a little thicker band, with the crown being a little bit thicker, so that if she did hit it on a ball, or on a paddle, you're not kicking that rock off,” he tells PEOPLE. “So I made it a little extra durable, a little bigger, just for the fact that I don't want her to take it off.”

But, “if you're going to a water park, you're going to the ocean,” she may have to remove it, he admits, and Bernstein adds, “Yeah, I don't want to lose it.”

“You're dealing with someone who's perfect," Hunter says. "It's got to be perfect.”

When it comes down to it, however, the couple — who got engaged last month — says they would be happily engaged even with a candy ring.

“I could give her a Haribo Ring Pop, and I believe that she would still be happy with that with me,” Hunter tells PEOPLE, although he says he “would never do that.”

And his pickleball pro fiancée agrees.

“Oh, my gosh, of course,” she said. “You're my best friend, and it's the meaning behind it, and for me it's just like, I love you, and we're together forever.”

"You're stuck with me,” she adds.

Elsewhere during their chat with PEOPLE — which was, fittingly, on a pickleball court — Hunter and Bernstein also opened up about their unlikely meet cute.

"It all goes back to the Super Bowl," says Hunter, who attended the 2023 NFL championship game because of dad Guy's Flavortown Tailgate.

Bernstein, who also ended up at the tailgate, found herself onstage with a friend. "We're all dancing, having a great time," Tara recalls. "I turned around and I'm like, 'Hey, can you take a video of me?' And it was Hunter."

"That was literally it," she says with a laugh, adding that he gave her phone back and they went their separate ways, eventually entering the stadium to watch the Super Bowl with their respective groups. "We didn't exchange contact info, nothing."

Fatefully, Hunter and Bernstein crossed paths at concessions during the game.

"Literally by a ketchup and mustard stand, we're standing there and we're just chatting and we're just talking and hanging out," he recounts, adding that the couple "connected on a deep level really quickly.”

“And next thing we know, the game's over," Hunter adds. “We missed the half time.”

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About a week and a half after the Super Bowl, the pair started dating. A few months later, they went Instagram-official. Nine months after first meeting, they got engaged.

"I'm nervous and I'm so happy with emotions," he remembers of the proposal, and Tara adds, "I was in tears after... It was just really, really beautiful."