The public wedding proposal is all in vogue these days. People pop the question via hexicopter, as part of a fake arrest and rope in the kids. You can hire a proposal planner — and this past Valentine's Day, TODAY even set up five surprise proposals on the plaza.
All of which might lead people to believe that a heartfelt desire and a camera are all that are needed to create the "yes!" response of a lifetime.
But as one man recently discovered when he popped the question to his girlfriend of two years at a McDonald's, there are no guarantees in the game of wedding proposals.
Michael Joseph, 30, had it all planned out and even got his (hopefully) future father-in-law involved (dad rigged up a hidden camera in the car to record the event). He then took 23-year-old Ann to the West Hollywood fast food joint they had fond memories of, and slipped an engagement ring inside a Crispy Chicken Deluxe burger.
"Will you marry me?" he asked as she opened the box. After stuttering through her amazement, she began to cry.
"You're not serious," said Ann. "You can't ask me to marry you in a chicken sandwich."
"I thought it was a surprise," he said.
Well, it was.
Friends encouraged him to post the whole awkward exchange, perhaps as a warning to others who might be contemplating cutesy proposals. It now has over 111,000 views on YouTube.
But it's not quite as random as it might have seemed. As Joseph noted in the YouTube comments, this particular McD's was where they had their first date, writing, "She joked for months about how 10 years down the line I would probably propose to her in a chicken nugget box so I thought she would love when I surprised her this way."
In any case, there's a sort of happy ending here. As Joseph added, "We agreed to wait longer until it's time to get engaged."