Popping the Question in Front of a Billion People

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.

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"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."

It's a Generational Thing

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.

Over the past year, he and Clynes maintained a long distance relationship while he received military training in Germany. Soon after, Smith decided to propose before he began his 15-month stint in Iraq.

"Being in the military, I can't always be there for her -- when Jamie is having a bad day, I can't take off her shoes and give her a massage," Smith said. "I wanted to do something big for her -- something that the both of us would really remember."

The plan was so big, he needed a Jumbotron TV screen and the help of the St. Louis Cardinals.

"Jamie loves the Cardinals just like I do," Smith said. "So my friend told the Cardinals organization that I was a soldier coming home from Iraq … and I wanted to propose to my girlfriend at Busch Stadium."

It worked. As the Cardinals geared up to take the field against the rival Chicago Cubs, Smith and Clynes were ushered down to home-plate for what she thought was only a fan photo-op.

"I was wondering if you would marry me," Smith uttered on bended knee in front of thousands of Cardinals fans.

"You've got to be kidding me," Clynes said, incredulously. "Yes!"

As if a stadium full of cheering supporters were not enough, Smith now plans to post his home run hit online, for all the world to see.

"When normal couples get engaged, it's usually just the two of them and their families," Smith said. "Here, I got a large audience … and thousands more on the Internet."

Reliving It Online

Carley Roney, editor in chief of TheKnot.com, said that more couples publicize their proposals than ever before to relive their experience.

"It's your fairytale moment, it's your sort of celebrity moment," Roney said. "They're their own brand -- these couples -- and they have a whole Web site for the business of themselves."

After the nerve-wracking drama that goes into planning the marriage proposal, many feel the reward is the recognition of all their hard work.

"Yes, an engagement is a personal time between two individuals but it's also a special moment to share with others," said Matthew Baker, who proposed onstage to his girlfriend at a college Christmas concert. "Thanks to today's technology, the entire world can now relive that special day … for years to come."

No couple can attest to that better than Chris and Julie Tuff.

Chris proposed when he pretended to sprain his ankle during their daily jog. He had a cameraman covertly film the proposal from a parked car.

"He was digging in his jogging shorts for something and then he pulled out [the ring]," said Julie. "What a great moment -- I love that I can replay those emotions every time I watch it."

When Chris posted the romantic stunt online, it received more than 150,000 hits.

The couple later created a personal wedding Web page to document every aspect of their big day.

"It was a way of just putting everything in a centralized location for everyone, then throwing in pictures and funny comments about people in the wedding," said Chris. "All of my friends could figure out who the single bridesmaids were."

Now more than 300,000 wedding Web sites -- or "Wed sites" -- serve as matrimonial hubs full of information, with no detail too small.

"They feature a poll, a quiz … they want to announce who is in the wedding party, like a cast of characters, they want to tell the history of their relationship," said Roney. "It is your own TV show."

If the wedding Web site is the baby book for a couple's love story, then the Internet proposal is where it is born.

"I love this trend [and] the idea of people looking at these proposals, getting ideas of their own," said Julie Tuff. "Everyone has their own story, and each one is unique in itself."