6 Most Creative Marriage Proposals

Today is National Proposal Day, and I have a fairly shocking confession: I am a big fan of the proposal, much more so than the actual wedding. In our society, guys are supposed to act like the proposal is “all about her,” and you rarely hear married guys sitting around the campfire talking about the day they got engaged. In fact, many guys, like former Philly comedian Kent Haines, think proposing marriage is incredibly stressful.

But the proposal makes for great theater, and if done right, makes for a damn good story. It requires acts of bravery and daring, and features the added bonus of potential catastrophe.

I was actually part of a proposal last month, and it was pretty cool. A friend of mine, Koob, had met his girlfriend (Kristy) while playing quizzo, so he wanted to propose to her at the annual Quizzo Bowl I host each year. So I got my buddy, local comedian Chip Chantry, in on the bit, and we came up with a game show in which Kristy thought she was competing for a gift certificate to a local bar. In fact (and completely unbeknownst to her), she was about to get engaged. Here’s the result.

It wasn’t the first time someone had used quizzo to pop the question either, but not every proposal has to include trivia. So to celebrate this day, I asked Philadelphians to send in their most funny or creative proposals; here are a few of my favorites.

Classic Drunken Diner Proposal
One way to pop the question is wasted at a diner. “I proposed to Alberto while drunk at Little Pete’s. Neither of us told anyone for about a month to see if it was just the booze. Then I got my ring on eBay. Ten years and two kids later, I guess it wasn’t just the drinking and the cheese fries.”

Road Construction Proposal
Jeanette “got a big orange construction sign made saying ‘Danger, Proposal Ahead’ and put it on the Schuylkill River Trail under Chestnut Street and asked him to come meet me (so he’d have to ride his bike by it). He comes around the bend saying, ‘Did you see that awesome sign?,’ and I was waiting for him on a bench with a 2004 replica Red Sox World Series ring for an engagement ring (he’s from Boston). He loved it.”

Proposal on TV
My buddy Jon worked for a TV station that had a green screen. So his girlfriend Julie was in for quite a surprise when they were watching Shrek at home one Friday night, which they had seen together on one of their first dates. Suddenly, 15 minutes into the movie, Jon walked onto the screen and started talking, telling Julie how much he loved her and how he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. When she turned around, he was on one knee with ring in hand.

Las Vegas Proposal Leads to Elvis Wedding (of course)
Another guy (Lex) couldn’t wait to take the relationship status from engaged to married. He proposed to Elizabeth a couple of years ago while they were on vacation in Vegas. She said yes, so he said, “Why don’t we do it tomorrow?” They were married by Elvis the next day.

Halloween Proposal
A couple of guys decided to pop the question on Halloween. In one case, the couple in question were dressed as Fred and Wilma Flintstone. But the other one takes the cake for weirdest. This from John: “My girlfriend was a Queen Bee to my beekeeper costume. My costume had me in a beard of actual bees (dead bees sent to me courtesy of several local colleges’ schools of entomology). Said costume also had a soundtrack of bees buzzing around to help complete the effect. When I proposed, and the answer was a resounding yes, my wife-to-be did not want to hug or kiss me due to the blanket of dead insects covering me.”

That’s incredible, and highly dangerous. Though not as dangerous as proposing at a food court. By the way, if you haven’t proposed to anyone, or had anyone propose to you, don’t worry, there’s still reason to celebrate today. It’s also Alien Abduction Day.