10 Dramatic Marriage Proposals

I saw a new online marriage proposal yesterday. While I waited to see what the potential bride's reaction was, I thought about how many imaginative proposals I've seen. Some are so very public and entertaining, yet personal at the same time because they are custom-made for the couple involved. If you haven't seen these, you are in for a treat!

1. Window

The Window is a comic strip that appears on a set of windows in downtown Lafayette, Indiana roughly every week. When Joe Broussard wished to propose to Shayla, he asked the cartoonist, Ryan Bidlack (Bids) to help him out. The result went public last June. The comic led readers around the corner ("especially you, Shayla") for the kneeling cat asking, "Will you?" When she finally realized it was targeting her, Shayla said yes.

2. Memetic Marriage Proposal

Kristjan Thompson asked for the help of his favorite blog in popping the question to Alexandra. The result was a series of images from various internet memes that spelled out the proposal, ending with a Venn diagram.

Alexandra's reaction was illustrated as yet another internet meme.

3. Graffiti

When Shannon proposed to Jessica, he enlisted the help of an urban street artist to paint a mural, and since street art doesn't last, a filmmaker to record the event. The finished product includes Jessica's affirmative response.

4. Light Writing

Derick Childress spelled out his love for Emily with light graffiti! This image was not created by Photoshop, but by shining lights in precise places over the actual architecture in Raleigh, North Carolina. The testing and photography took place over three nights, and was combined into a solid video after three days of editing. When Derick showed his "current project" to Emily, she couldn't help but say yes.

5. Cinematic

Steve began preparing his proposal to Tracey nine months ahead of time by writing a script and hiring a professional production team to put together the story of their lives, past, present, and future. It was shown at a movie theater among other trailers for the benefit of Tracey alone, unbeknownst to her. She was puzzled that this "coming attraction" hit so close to home, but didn't catch on that it was about her until the end. Steve incorporated Tracey's fear of dying in a plane crash, but gave it a happy ending with a marriage proposal, which she accepted.

6. Art

Illustrator Guy Shield incorporated his artwork into his proposal, but worked on it right in front of Liz without giving away the purpose. The series of drawings made no reference to a proposal until they were folded in such a way as to link parts of each drawing together in a "bridge". The final seven illustrations ran to eight feet in length before folding. He folded the project in a hotel room in Bali, and her response was, "Of course!"

7. Online Comic #1

Way back in 1999, Mike Krahulik of the webcomic Penny Arcade proposed with an episode of the webcomic that didn't have much artwork, but a lot of heartfelt text. Oh, it worked.

8. Online Comic #2

In August of 2004, The Joy of Tech ran a very special comic on behalf of Tony as a geeky proposal to Stephanie. She said yes.

9. Online Comic #3

In 2007, Eric Burns enlisted over a dozen artist friends to help him put together a comic strip proposal at Websnark. Each panel had a different style, but it came together nicely to get the point across to Wednesday White, who said yes. The panels shown are from artists David Willis and Rich Burlew.

10. Online Comic #4

The proposal I referred to at the beginning of this post was found through Metafilter. Leigh Gallagher is a comic book artist and has a blog. So as he decided to propose to his girlfriend Niki, we all have the opportunity to be witness to the proceedings. He only posted it yesterday, and we don't yet know what her answer is.

Update: She said yes!

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