Dammit, I promised myself I wouldn’t cry today…
As adorable as this one is, I always feel an instinctual cringe reaction when watching public proposals. The stress it puts on the other person, whether they want to get married to the person proposing or not, makes my muscles hurt.
/buzzkill
In the late 90s I remember catching a few minutes of some stupid TV game show (back before they started calling them “reality” shows) where they took existing couples, sent each member on a date with someone new, then brought them back to the studio to ask each of them (without allowing them to consult with each other) whether they wanted to continue as a couple or go on more dates with the new person.
Some dipshit decided that this would be a great opportunity to publicly propose to his girlfriend. So they asked him whether he wanted to stick with his girlfriend or go on more dates with the new girl, and he pulled out a ring and proposed. And she rejected him. On TV. It was the most horrifyingly entertaining moment of trash television I have ever seen in my life.
Awwwww…
and me doing it in the privacy of my own home… what the hell was I thinking.
I didn’t plan for mine to attract a lot of public attention but it kind of did anyway, largely because a TV crew happened to be passing by when the artist I’d commissioned to help me out was working on the project. So we ended up being the closing piece on a Travel Channel segment about Venice Beach.
Luckily she didn’t really notice the attention until afterward so it all worked out OK. (I mean she saw the T.V. crew on site but it didn’t register as anything remarkable, because L.A.)
Note: she wisely requested I shave the soul patch shortly afterward.
In terms of “public or private” I think it comes down to knowing your would-be fiancé. If you’re close enough to make a marriage work hopefully you also know your partner well enough to predict if they would be made horribly uncomfortable by a public proposal.
Is that for the proposal or getting rid of the soul patch?
I proposed to my husband with a can of SpaghettiOs on the day they first legalized gay marriage in California, because it seemed more expedient. It’s like he got 1000’s of rings!
This sets a pretty high bar for the honeymoon! 
I’m so glad he didn’t produce the ring from some other orifice…
If you don’t know the answer, you shouldn’t be asking the question in the first place. That’s what they taught me in law school when examining witnesses, and I think it applies to marriage proposals as well. As for the stress on the other person - sure, that’s a problem for some. But if you’re dating a magician, I think you should probably expect some “audience participation” at some point, if not being sawed in half.
I can’t help but feel reminded of this classic by Loriot, Germany’s Grand Master of Comedy, may he rest in peace:
Too many feels! All the dust floating around the office seems to have gotten into my eyes.
I know I’m an evil person for even thinking of it, but maybe he’s saving that for the even-more-impressive —I–W-A-N-T–A–D-I-V-O-R-C-E-------
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