Fairy tale wedding proposals do come true in real life, as shown by film-maker Lee Loechler recently.
He proposed to his girlfriend, Dr Sthuthi David, by editing both of them into Sleeping Beauty, her favourite Disney movie.
Loechler hired Australian animator Kayla Coombs to make the proposal come true. The project took six months.
He uploaded the video of the proposal on YouTube on Dec 30. It has now gone viral.
The special screening of the Disney hit was at a theatre in Brookline, Massachusetts. Loechler had a deal with the theatre to carry out the proposal. Friends and family were kept hidden in the theatre and Loechler found “seat fillers” on social media.
A few years ago, one of Loechler’s friends had wanted to pop the question to his girlfriend and the film-maker gave him the idea to use Forrest Gump (the girlfriend’s favourite movie). The friend would be edited into the movie and the edited version in the film would throw a ring to the real-life girlfriend.
The friend, however, did not proceed with the idea. Loechler then put it aside, until last year when he decided to use it himself.
The complication was that his girlfriend’s favourite movie was a cartoon. Loechler created a bogus email from her mother (who was in with the proposal) to inform her that her family had bought tickets to a screening. The girlfriend was asked to invite Loechler along.
The girlfriend, without suspecting anything, did just that.
In the movie, Aurora’s features turned to look like the girlfriend’s as Prince Philip moved in to kiss her. The girlfriend noticed something amiss until the prince also changed to look like Loechler.
A ring was tossed from the Loechler in the film to the real-life person, who then popped the question to his girlfriend, a cardiologist, with some heart-themed jokes.
The girlfriend accepted the proposal.
There was an alternative ending with unhappy Seven Dwarfs in case she declined.
The theatre put on a congratulatory note on the marquee.