Marriage proposals often move people to tears, but usually not like this.
Canadian Ben Vienneau popped the question to his girlfriend after he arranged for her fake arrest with the help of his brother-in-law, a police officer. He recorded the entire ordeal in a YouTube video he submitted for a radio contest seeking the wackiest proposal.
The prank started when a police officer pulled the couple over and asked Vienneau's girlfriend, Marcia Belyea, for her license and registration.
The officer then informed Belyea she had $2,000 in parking tickets and faced 30 days in jail. After the officer had her get into the back of his patrol car, Belyea began weeping.
The officer then offered an “alternative.”
"Ben and I have come to an agreement where we’ve agreed to waive the fine and let you go if you take his hand in marriage,” he said, as recorded in a YouTube video of the event.
A relieved Belyea accepted the proposal and gave her fiancé, with whom she has two children, a hug. She also gave a hug to the officer.
During a live phone interview Wednesday on TODAY, Belyea said she laughed off the ordeal rather than get angry with Vienneau.
"Maybe for a couple of minutes, but that was it. I wasn’t mad at him at all, actually," she said of her husband-to-be, adding that he rarely pulls this sort of stunt on her.
"He's a pretty funny guy and he has a good sense of humor, as do I, but no, there haven’t been that many pranks, surprisingly," she said.
Vienneau acknowledged that the prank went farther than he expected.
"Oh gosh, I didn’t even know if I was going to propose. I was so nervous," he told TODAY anchors. "It was very unplanned and unscripted. It was just as interesting for me as it was her."
On TODAY Vienneau encouraged people to vote for his video proposal in the radio contest; the submitter of the winning entry receives a $20,000 wedding by the sea.