Elections Today
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| State | Candidate | Delegates |
|---|---|---|
 Donald Trump | ||
Pennsylvania |  Joe Biden |
Popping the Question in Front of a Billion People
Love in the time of the Internet: wedding proposals explode online.
Aug. 23, 2007 — -- Some ask at a candlelight dinner for two, some ask while on an exotic vacation -- now many people are proposing marriage with the help of the World Wide Web.
What used to be one of the most private moments for a couple is now fodder for a growing online phenomenon.Click here to watch the videos.
"I initially posted the proposal video online just for friends and acquaintances, and a few months ago I thought about taking it down," said M.J. D'Elia, who recorded himself proposing to his girlfriend on a West Jet airplane. "But when I checked the stats I realized that I had been viewed over 10,000 times."
Video Web sites illustrate just how eager couples are to film and publicize marriage proposals. YouTube alone features more than 1,800 proposals, according to the Wall Street Journal. The clips range from quick amateur cuts of actual proposals to lengthy edited photomontages. But while some had only a few hundred hits, others turned viral with a few hundred thousand clicks.
"I posted it on YouTube for our friends and families to take part in our engagement," said Jeremy Penn, who created a video-photo montage to propose to his girlfriend. "I never expected this video to take off the way it did on the Internet."
His proposal reached 16,700 hits. The montage shows eight minutes of the couple's pictures, interjected with video of friends and family exclaiming, "Say 'Yes!'"
His exhibitionist parade culminates in a simple question: "Marry me?"
Penn's montage extravaganza paid off. "[My fianceé and I] were recently stopped in the Museum of Natural History by someone who saw it on the Internet and cries every time they see it."
For the younger generations that have grown up with the Web, it may seem only natural to make public a traditionally personal moment.
Pvt. Eric Smith, a 20-year-old Army vehicle commander about to go to Iraq, wanted to announce his proposal to the world. The former prom king had been dating his high school sweetheart, Jamie Clynes, for four years. A diehard St. Louis Cardinals fan, Smith gave up a baseball scholarship at a local community college to serve his country.
