Ouch… awkward.:smack:
If you’re going to propose in public, you’d better be damn sure you know what the answer’s gonna be. 
I liked the first one and a well-done piece of film, but I’m not buying that any part of the proposal was real/“live” on camera. The production value was too high, I imagine the whole thing was staged/performed after the real one. (Because, come on, she didn’t think it strange to set up a TV and a video camera on the roof? Yet we saw no indication of “Honey, why are you filming this?”)
The second one – well, nice production value, sure. The whole “asking for your daughter’s hand” thing makes me stabby. Sigh – haven’t we gotten over the notion of woman-as-man’s-property to be sold from her father to her husband? Just as well I wasn’t the target audience, because that would have led to an argument.
Yeah, you know, when he said he’d been dating her for “a few months” I started cringing immediately. Dude, waaaayyyy too soon.
Basically, if you haven’t already talked about marriage and are completely on the same page, a public proposal really puts her on the spot, and not in a good way if her answer is anything other than a yes. What a terrible thing to do to your SO.
At our local minor league park a couple of seasons ago, between innings early in the game:
PA Guy (bringing a woman and a man down to the top of the home team dugout): So it’s time for our categories contest. Our contestants today are Mike and Cathy, both of [name of town]. Let’s welcome Mike and Cathy!
Crowd: <desultory applause>
PA Guy: You two know how this works, right? I give you a category, and you go back and forth naming items that belong until one of you can’t think of one. Best two out of three wins. So let’s go! First category: Things you might need a DJ for! [PA guy is also a DJ.] Mike?
Mike: Um, a party.
PA Guy: Cathy?
Cathy: A wedding.
[Pause.]
Mike (getting down on one knee and pulling a box out of his pocket): Cathy…speaking of weddings…I love you so much. Here’s a ring I picked for you–Cathy, will you marry me?
Crowd (including me): <awwww>
PA Guy: Cathy?
Cathy (slowly): Oh, Mike…you’re the sweetest man I know…you’re just the nicest guy. I love you too…but, Mike, I just can’t marry you…
And Cathy runs up the steps from the dugout, along the concourse, and out of the stadium.
Quite a moment. For all the wrong reasons.
Ugh, yes. I hate all three. These are the sort of people that throw “birthday parties” when they’re in their thirties.
Ah, even more ways to be ridiculously over-the-top. And I thought the “surprise” reception dance thing was cheesy. This stuff is worse.
Occassionally you will get couples stage proposals before a football (soccer) game.
Almost without exception a section of the crowd will, as he goes down on one knee, start singing a chant of “You Don’t Know What Your Doing”.
I think the only reason it seems more common is because we have YouTube and the various social media means for millions of people to potentially see any given cheesy video.
Maybe if he’d done it in private, they’d still be married.
I totally agree with you, but on the other hand, if the girl has a really good relationship with her dad and prefers it that way, well, whatever. If my SO ever asked my father for permission I’d first be like “What the fuck?” and then probably flip.
I can bellow really really loud. No, louder than that. Years ago I was attending a band concert at an indoor arena (think basketball or hockey). Sitting way up & back in the cheap seats.
Some goof had arranged to pop the question on stage at the intermission between the warm-up act & the headliner.
The guys asks and there’s that pregnant pause while she’s thinking of what to say.
I stand up, bellow “GO BAAACK!! ITS A TRAAAAP!!!”, and quickly sit down. Stunned silence and everybody (>10,000 people) is suddenly looking around trying to figure out who did that. Including the happy (?) couple.
Somebody somewhere clapped and suddenly the whole audience is applauding. I got a good 15 seconds worth.
The hubbub died down, she said “yes” & the main act came out 20 minutes later. I never found out whether they got married or eventually divorced. This being Las Vegas, odds were good on both.
So my answer is: “No; I’m not a fan of public proposals.”
You have to know she’ll say yes and that she won’t mind it not being private. I probably would only do it with someone like Mrs. Johnson. Of course, I’d have to know her, and she’d have to be Miss Johnson, but…
Sure, I’m just pointing out another reason why public proposals are a bad idea / how they can go horribly awry. I mean, you’d hope that the proposal wouldn’t happen before they know each other well enough to avoid arguments like that, but as the prior vid shows (“we’ve been dating for a few months”? AGH, dude!) that’s not always the case. Imagine having that argument in the middle of a movie theatre rather than in the living room at home.
IF such a thing happened to me (knock on wood), I’d be pissed that not only does he apparently not know me at all, and that he’s treating me like property, but also that he’s putting me on the spot/forcing the argument in front of an audience. Triple whammy.
Yes, it can only work if marriage has been discussed prior and both parties are in agreement. I think the days of the boy romantically popping the question are on the way out, anyway. Oh, it will be a while yet before they are completely gone, but it’s outdated already. Couples should come to a mutual consensus on marriage, and I’m also over the concept of the man spending three months of HIS salary on a ring, which could totally go towards the honeymoon or a new car or whatever.
But I know many girls still expect that.
That’s a good point - I hadn’t really thought of that. I think many people basically go down that road (Jim and I did, more or less).