Wedding Wednesday: Grand Gestures

Years ago, The Half-breed Swede and I went to a Rhett Miller concert at Chicago's Park West (which might be one of my favorite places to see a concert in Chicago). At one point, the audience got quiet as Mr. Miller crooned away on The Old 97's song "Question." Then, at the end, he announced that a guy in the audience had a question for his girlfriend. I'm sure you can figure out the rest of the story. It was pretty romantic and sweet and The Half-breed Swede and I were in awe that the guy had not only planned the whole thing, but also that he got Rhett Miller to do it! How freaking sweet is that??!!??

Still, thinking back on it now, I realize I would have peed myself if A.P. had proposed to me in probably any other way than the way he did, which was quietly, just the two of us, and in the middle of nowhere in the Smoky Mountains (btw, I've oddly enough said this exact same thing before about how I feel about elaborate proposals). Now that I'm on the other side of that whole part of the a relationship, it's easy to know what you'd like/wouldn't like. I watch TV shows now and when I see guys organize these elaborate, crazy proposals, I grin like an idiot and tear up even sometimes, but the whole time, I'm grateful that I'm not that girl. Perhaps it is the fact that I don't like to be the center of attention or that I would kill myself if all eyes at a basketball game were on me, but the thought of being the center of everyone's attention at a large event frightens the bejesus out of me!

Elaborate proposals are still great fun to see played out, though. And I'm always amazed the lengths to which these men go to propose in an unique way. Here are five great proposals, four of which I've featured on Not the Marrying Kind before, and a brand new one which is pretty awesome!

1. Tom meticulously planned a multi-city proposal for Laina that had her fly from Tulsa to Washington DC, where he proposed in the home he bought for them. Then, to celebrate, they flew to Rome. All of it was a surprise and all of it was documented beautifully by Wiley Valentine. (Featured in this post)

2. Matt made a trailer of him asking Ginny's father for her hand in marriage. Then, he got a friend to take Ginny to the movies where he'd arranged for the local theater to show the trailer he'd made. She sat there, not quite knowing what was happening at first, then was amazed to realize that was Matt on the screen. You'll have to watch the ending for the awesome culmination of some excellent planning on Matt's part! (Featured in this post)

3. Ari Gilder, a Google software engineer, designed a scavenger hunt for his bride-to-be using, what else? Google Maps! He chose places that had meaning to the couple. Each time she arrived at a new destination, a friend greeted her with a rose and a quiz question that helped unlock the next location. The final location, of course, had Ari proposing marriage. So rad! (Featured in this post)

4. I was emailed a link to this video, which I'm still almost positive is fake. Fake or not, it's still pretty crazy! Josh faked his own death to propose to Brooke! What the what??!!?? Check out the video below! (Featured in this post.)

5. And for the newest addition...Derick took five days to photograph and edit his beautiful message to Emily. Using a rather large spotlight and a bunch of friends, he did what is called light writing to scrawl his lovely lady a most important message on the cityscape of downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. Talk about intense and amazing! Check out the whole process here.

How do you feel about elaborate proposals? Share your own engagement story in the comments!

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