There aren’t many moments in life more notable — and either more fantastically rewarding or mercilessly soul crushing — than the marriage proposal. It’s a time when you want everything to be just right, in the hope of getting the perfect answer. So the last thing anyone would ever want to do would be to add elements that would make it more likely to end in disaster. Or so you’d think.
Us guys are not necessarily known for being relationally savvy. Still, there are certain elements of romance traditionally associated with a proposal that you’d think we’d realize are not necessarily present at a basketball game. Maybe that’s why a center-court proposal during an NBA game just seems less likely to succeed than a half-court free throw…
There’s already lots of pressure and a lifetime of imagining wrapped around that moment. Chances are good that a television audience, thousands of people all around you cheering and catcalling as they watch for your reaction, and the smells of popcorn and beer were not among the details that the bride-to-be imagined. Even once.
Contrast that with this Lego character marriage proposal that Atlanta filmmaker Walt Thompson put together to woo his girlfriend, Nealey Dozier. It’s cute, romantic, and best of all, it allows the other party to make a decision without the pressure of a TV audience, a microphone, and the guys in the back shouting out, “Get on with the game!”
Social media can expose your every moment to the world. But some moments are still best lived privately. And even if your social media foray is a strategic marketing campaign that’s got the boardroom’s full backing and budget, make sure you’ve got agreement among the main players before you put it out there for the whole world to see.
So, coming back to marriage proposals, how about you? Would you propose on TV or in front of a crowd? Would you want someone to propose to you that way?
Those public marriage proposals strike me as a crazy idea unless you’re absolutely certain your partner wants to marry you. I cringe really hard every time I see one of these awkward moments when a guy busts out a ring and the girl looks like she wants to kill herself. It’s not a good idea to put that kind of pressure on somebody.
@RBCud Gotta agree with you, Rich. And even if the guy is certain he’s going to get a “Yes,” surprising his sweetheart with the question in front of thousands or millions of people may well trigger a range of emotions that neither of them had counted on. I’m still thinking a candlelight dinner is in a lot more girlfriends’ dreams of a proposal than any basketball game or television camera.