Friday, August 29, 2008

Behind the Scenes of a Proposal

Back in June, I blogged about a proposal planner. I wondered if men really needed to hire someone to pull off a not-so-average-on-bended-knee proposal. Once again, the Wedding Planners synchronicity came into play when I received a very interesting email with a YouTube video link. But before I get to that, a little background...

If you have a copy of SOS Marry Me, you'll notice I mention someone named Michael in the acknowledgment section of the book. Michael is a member of Portland Mountain Rescue and helped me with a ton of research for Serena and Kane's story as well as two other books, including my upcoming November 2008 release titled Rescued by the Magic of Christmas that features a mountain rescuer hero.

I met Michael through his sister, who I met on-line at a climbing forum in December of 2006. As soon as he agreed to help me, I started peppering the poor guy with questions. And not just your typical research questions, either. I wanted a peek into his brain to understand how rescuers and climbers thought. This went on for eleven months. Eleven long months for him, I'm sure. And it's not over yet. I'm still asking Michael questions, but what can I say? When you find someone who's open and willing to help, that person becomes your go to guy! And face it, how many men do you know who'll answer your email when they're base-jumping in Norway? Romance hero material, don't you think?

Needless to say, I was thrilled when I received an email from Michael's sister with a link to this YouTube video:



All I could say after watching it was "wow!" Could you imagine having a video of your proposal to watch over and over again? And also be able to share it with family and friends? I still enjoy watching our wedding video so I'd be all over a proposal one!

I thought it would be fun to ask Michael how the entire proposal came about, what happened after they'd filmed it and of course, Linda's reaction. Here's what I found out...

Michael and Linda had already decided to get married, but there had been no official proposal though he'd had a spectacular ring made for her. Five days before he was set to head out of the country to go base jumping, Linda reminded him that he'd said he would ask her to marry him before he left. Uh-oh. That didn't leave him much time. Michael called it a quick scramble as he planned the proposal in a day.

On a Friday morning, he met a buddy, who's a SERT team member, at the Drop Zone outside of Portland, Oregon. The pressure was on. They would have one take to film the proposal because both were competing in a 10 sport athletic event for charity the next day. The friend filmed the jump, spent much of the night editing the proposal and putting it on a DVD.

After the sporting event, Michael decided to take Linda to the Oregon coast to propose. He figured they could go to a bar and have the bartender play the DVD. One problem he discovered once they'd arrived--no DVD player in the bar. That wasn't going to stop Michael. He decided he would just buy a DVD player and take it to the bar! Problem solved.

As they were shopping, they entered an art gallery. A painting called to both Michael and Linda with its yellow color and trees, symbols from their dating and the life they would build together. As they bought the painting, Michael noticed a slick looking Macintosh computer which would have a DVD player built in. Forget the bar, he knew where he was going to propose now so he asked the gallery if they could pick up the painting after lunch.

At a nearby resturant, Michael excused himself from the table and dashed back to the art gallery. He asked the art gallery owner if she would play the DVD for Linda when they returned to pick up the painting. She agreed. The new plan was set! Now he needed to execute it.

Linda and Michael returned to the art gallery to pick up the picture. The gallery owner asked asked if they wanted to see a video of the artist and her work on her computer. They did, but what she played instead was Michael's skydiving proposal. Linda cried. He gave her the ring. She cried some more. In fact, she cried the entire drive home. Linda told Michael that though the ring is amazing, the video is so much more important to her!

Congratulations on your engagement, Linda and Michael. Thanks for letting us share in the proposal! The Wedding Planners send our best wishes to the two of you. May your marriage overflow with love, laughter and romance.

Labels: melissa m, unique marriage proposals

posted by Melissa McClone @ 12:05 AM