Gwen Stefani Is Still 'Floating on Air' After Blake Shelton's Proposal, Says Source

Gwen Stefani is on cloud nine.

Ever since getting engaged to her boyfriend of five years, country star Blake Shelton, in October, the No Doubt rocker has been "floating on air," an industry source tells PEOPLE in this week's cover story, on newsstands Friday.

"Gwen was amazed and absolutely not aware the proposal was happening," says the insider. "It was a shining point in her life."

As Stefani revealed earlier this month, her future husband's romantic proposal was so unexpected that she almost derailed it completely.

Shelton, 44, planned to pop the question during a fall trip to his Tishomingo, Oklahoma, ranch, where he and Stefani, 51, along with her sons Kingston, 14, Zuma, 12, and Apollo, 6, had spent several months in quarantine. But ahead of this particular trip, Stefani had some hesitations about traveling from Los Angeles, where she and Shelton recently moved into a new home while shooting season 19 of NBC’s The Voice.

"I was trying to get out of going because it was getting too complicated with COVID and the family," Stefani said on The Kelly Clarkson Show on Dec. 15. "I’m like, 'I think we should just cancel.'"

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Luckily, Shelton convinced her otherwise and gathered both of their families for the special moment on his ranch.

"I walked in and my son was sitting right by this fireplace, and Blake was basically getting down on his knees to do a fire, and he goes, 'Hey, can you look in that cabinet over there and get me a fire starter?' So, I opened the cabinet, and there was a ring in a box," Stefani told Clarkson. "I was like, 'Ah! What?! Are you serious?!' Then everybody came running around because they heard us screaming. It was a pretty magical moment."

With the proposal behind them, Shelton and Stefani — who fell in love on the set of The Voice in 2015, bonding over their own recent heartbreak and respective divorces from Miranda Lambert and Gavin Rossdale — are now looking ahead to their wedding.

"They want a small wedding, but it seems impossible to do even that right now," says a source close to Stefani, referencing the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. "They were talking about early 2021, but they have decided to wait until they can have a small group of family and friends attend."

Despite the setback, the singers are happier than ever and hope to say "I do" by summertime.

"Gwen is still emotional about the engagement and can’t believe how lucky she is to be with Blake,” says the Stefani source. "She didn't think the engagement would change her and Blake’s relationship because it felt like they were already married, but it has sparked even more happiness."

"She can’t wait to be his wife," the source adds. "The wedding has given her something amazing to look forward to in the new year."

Sources expect the couple’s nuptials to take place in a chapel Shelton built for Stefani on his ranch — they gave fans a peek at the special place in their engagement announcement posted to Instagram Oct. 27 — and for the wedding ceremony to be intimate and emotional.

"It will be smaller with family and only close friends,” says the industry insider. "They aren’t rushing it now but do want to marry soon."

For more on Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton's wedding plans, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Wednesday.