Selfies Have Officially Become Part of Marriage Proposals
As with fashion, marriage proposals often fall in line with whatever’s trendy at the time. Gone are the seemingly spontaneous drops-to-one-knee, the ring plopped into a glass of champagne, and even the overly-calculated flash mob style dance routines: Now, it’s all about subtlety and careful planning. Oh, and maybe a smartphone.
Recently, there’s been an influx of men proposing to their S.O.s by posing alongside them in photos while holding a sign reading “Marry me?” (or something of that ilk). The catch? The soon-to-be brides have no clue about the signage — or their impending nuptials.
To date, there have been at least three recorded instances of these long-term, sneaky proposals. In March 2014, a fella called Nick Foley brought his GF Kasia along on a business trip to China, where he proceeded to hold up a “marry me” sign above her face in more than 50 photos. “People never believe me when I say I didn’t notice- and sometimes it’s a little hard for me to believe myself, when I see how brazen Nick was in some of the pictures!” she writes. “But I was so concentrated on not falling off cliffs or tripping down ancient stone steps that the possibility of a secret proposal was the furthest thing from my mind in those moments.” Foley eventually proposed to her with a photo book of all the pictures.
Then, in early 2015, a dude named Dean Smith officially proposed to his girlfriend, Jennifer Kessel, on vacation in Aruba by showing her a video slideshow made of 365 selfies — each of which featured him holding a hand-written note about how much he loves her. “I knew that Jennifer was a fan of proposal videos on YouTube and would tear up at the sincerity and thoughtfulness of each proposal,” Smith told The Huffington Post. “She showed several of them to me, and I decided that I wanted to make her tear up to her own proposal.” Et voila — they had a viral video of their own.
More recently, UK-resident Ray Smith took 138 selfies with Claire Bramley while holding a secret “will you marry me” sign — all under the guise of documenting his pregnant ladyfriend’s growing belly. “‘Sometimes she wanted to see the pictures so I had to take more than one – one with the card and one without,” Smith told Metro. On Christmas morning — five months after starting his photo project — Smith played a video of the pictures for Bramley and got down on one knee.
Like it or not, it looks as though selfies have officially been integrated into the marriage proposal process. Our biggest question is — aside from Smith, who admitted he had to retake some pics, how is it possible that none of the other women asked to scrutinize see the photos right after they were taken? Isn’t that the entire point of digital photography?
And also, how many times has this type of proposal gone awry? It’s not unusual for a person to pick up a friend or partner’s phone and start thumbing through the pictures, which would inevitably spoil the entire surprise. Where are all the #proposalfail stories? We’d really love to hear them.
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