Greatest wedding proposal ever: the lip-dub

Isaac wanted to propose to his girlfriend, so he enlisted over 60 friends to stage a Busby Berkeley street-show lip-dub extravaganza ambush. What follows is five minutes of heart-stoppingly sweet and romantic wedding proposal. I mean: Z. O. M. F.G.

On Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012, I told my girlfriend to meet me at my parent's house for dinner. When she arrived I had stationed my brother to sit her in the back of an open Honda CRV and give her some headphones. He "wanted to play her a song"...

What she got instead was the world's first Live Lip-Dub Proposal.

Isaac's Live Lip-Dub Proposal (via Waxy)

• [zeppo]

  It is *so* great. 

• [Ponce_de_Leon]

  I’m glad she was pleased but if someone pulled that stunt on me I’d be very pissed off. It’s emotionally blackmailing in that there is no way to say no without looking like a dick in front of 60 expectantly clapping people.

  • [Nathan Hornby]

    This is definitely the kind of thing that’d only work on a certain kind of person, and definitely someone you know is going to say yes.  Otherwise you’re inviting a monumental train wreck into your life.

    Not my kind of thing at all; but it was hard to not enjoy it.

    • [ocker3]

      Watch the beginning of the clip again, she knew something was up and she was happy. She saw the camera was there, she had time to bail. So yes, don’t pull this kind of stunt if you’re not Really sure, but it looks like he was.

      I for one hate the song, it’s about someone who gets drunk and decides to propose, but perhaps that’s more about me and how seriously I take things. Good for him, that’s certainly a great day that they’ll all remember and think of fondly, the wifi internet chat sessions were a nice touch.

      • [stuck411]

        Liked how they converted the line “maybe it’s the dancing juice” into “maybe it’s these dancing Jews” in an effort to remove any question about his sobriety during the proposal. :)

        • [ocker3]

           Well at 1:45 they have drinks at “shots of Petrone”(sp?), but yeah, it certainly makes the video more interesting and helps steer away from the drunken proposal concept.

          I also have to admire the complicated and tricky crossed-leggs spirit fingers bit they do twice, was really wondering how they got so many people to do that until I read one comment about how many of them are actually dancers. Props to everyone for getting it all right in one take, imagine having to try and schedule a reshoot??

      • [bwcbwc]

         Also she hugged the girl in the red dress at the end, so I think a few sisterly hints were involved in confirming the intent.

  • [Frederik]

    I imagine that when mariage starts to become a possiblity you’ve reached a point in the relationship where the asking part is just a formality.

    • [benenglish]

       No.  Wrong.  Horribly wrong.

      I’ve asked twice and been turned down both times.  Clearly, that says more about me than them; I realize that.  (I’ve learned my lesson and will never try again.)  Still, you should know that proposals do get turned down occasionally.

      • [SedanChair]

        Well, you are Ben English

        • [Shibi_SF]

           Oh.  I thought that he was Benen Glish.  (Pshaw, Glish?  *that* guy never does lip-dub proposals)

  • [Sekino]

     The fact that so many family members and friends were all gung-ho to make this happen (this was at the fiancé’s parent’s house) seems like a good indication that they’ve been a great couple for a long while.  I think it’s safe to believe that they all love/know her enough to do something they know she’d enjoy.

    I just can’t imagine how they’ve all managed to rehearse without her finding out! That was awesome!

  • [lou]

    Ummm, I’m pretty sure the vast majority of proposals are made when you are sure that the other person will say yes.  Now that I think about it, I’m 40 years old, and I don’t know of any failed (he/she said no) proposals.  So I think ‘emotional blackmail’ is a bit over the top.

    • [Ponce_de_Leon]

      If someone pulled that stunt on me I’d be pissed off. Like I said, I’m glad she’s pleased (assuming that she’s not a Honda funded actor).

      • [oasisob1]

         It DOES feel like a sneaky CRV ad, doesn’t it?

      • [Jim Saul]

        Establishing that as your personality, do you think the kind of person who would create an event like this would be proposing to you?

      • [bwaterhouse]

        She is an actress, but the proposal’s for real. Isaac and Amy are both beloved performers in the Portland theater scene.

        • [penguinchris]

          That explains a lot if their friends are mostly theater people too – I was wondering how they managed to get so many “normal” people (as far as people in Portland can be normal) to coordinate so well :)

    • [joeposts]

      True, it seems very rare. But there are heartwarming youtube clips of public wedding proposals gone horribly wrong. So it’s not like people don’t say “NO” just because it’s in public. They say “NO!” and then run away. She could have tucked and rolled and gotten out of there quick enough, I think.

      • [ymendel]

        Heartwarming?

      • [ocker3]

         I remember one video of a guy proposing during a Basketball game, didn’t go well :(

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    I had a nightmare a couple of months ago that some utterly unattractive guy proposed to me in front of a crowd and I said yes just to get them to disperse.

    • [Jim Saul]

      Now there’s an idea for a real viral ad.

      I’m firmly in the “this was clearly real, get over it doubters” camp.

      But how hilarious would it be if at the end, just when it seemed over, a whole new set of dancers swoops in with an even more elaborate “sorry, but no” routine?

      • [chaopoiesis]

        West Side Story.

        • [Jim Saul]

          That would be appropriate… I read elsewhere that this couple met when both auditioned to be in West Side Story.

  • [Marion Bradley Lyman Kuebler]

    one COULD go along with it, and then that evening when they’re alone, could talk it over and make the proper decision….this way nobody would be humiliated in front of their friends and acquaintances….

  • [Kimmo]

    I’m glad she was pleased but if someone pulled that stunt on me I’d be very pissed off. It’s emotionally blackmailing in that there is no way to say no without looking like a dick in front of 60 expectantly clapping people.

    It occurs to me that since that’s pretty obvious to everyone, it would seem perfectly acceptable to say yes whatever you felt, then simply reneg afterwards.

    Look what a good time all those folks were having. Who’d want to spoil it for em?

    Hey Mods, since you’ve gone and implemented this limbo for edited posts, any chance you could fix the glitch where line breaks mess with everything when you quote someone? Or how about introducing a quote button, given how little-known the blockquote tag is? The only way I found out about it was to check out the page source after seeing someone else use it. Oh, and how about something more appropriate than ‘this comment has beeen flagged for review’?

    • [Antinous / Moderator]

      It’s Disqus.  We have no control over it.  It’s a massive nuisance.  I edit 5 – 10% of comments to remove extra line breaks.

  • [Cheryl Tay]

    You’re absolutely right. Also, not only is Marry You overplayed, it’s also the WORST song one can use for anything wedding-related. He wants to marry the girl only because they’re both drunk & he doesn’t mind if it ends the next day! I know some people don’t care about lyrics but if that were the case, the groom-to-be might as well have just used some Lady Gaga crap.

  • [Ryan Lenethen]

    That, or you are really setting yourself up for some soul crushing embarrassment. I recall seeing on TV some poor sap who proposed on the JumboTron at a baseball game (I think). She said no, shaking her head. I believe it was also on the highlight reals of the week. Nothing like getting rejected and crushed in front of 60 of your friends, or millions of strangers…

• [Keith Flippen]

  That’s a pretty high bar to set.  Now what the hell is he going to do for their first anniversary?

• [Jenna Murphy]

  This has got to be fake. I suspect this was an ad created by Honda (hence the specific mention of their CR-V model) to sell their cars. It sure is cute, but it looks like it was totally fabricated. Unfortunately, companies do that all the time now using fake viral videos like this one, it’s an advertising trend.

  • [Will Porter]

    I understand the skepticism, but this one’s legit. I was one of the dancers, and can confirm that we all got nothing for the performance except for warm fuzzy feelings.

    • [nem0fazer]

        Nice to hear. I am a skeptic by inclination but sometimes I’m struck by people not believing how great some folks can be.  I posted on reddit a while ago the story of my and my wife in response to a comedy routine basically about how women are gold diggers and men are only into sex. I explained when we met I was broke and my wife was doing ok and now, 15 years later, she has cancer and there’s no sex and we’re closer than ever. The initial response was people not believing it! I had to post proof photos! (of the cancer not the lack of sex which would have been harder to prove)

    • [mrbofus]

      How did you guys block off the street to make sure cars didn’t drive through while you guys practiced or did the final performance? Did you have to get a permit?  How much was it?

      • [Will Porter]

        It’s a side street that turns into a dirt road, so there’s essentially no through traffic. We were by far the most activity that street had all day, and there wasn’t a single car held up by the actual performance. There was one grumpy neighbor who honked at us during a pre-proposal run-through, but we didn’t slow him down any more than a game of pickup basketball would have. “CAR!”  ”GAME ON!”

    • [Kimmo]

      Great to hear.

      But don’t be dark on the sceptics; be pissed as hell at the scum responsible for tainting reality in this insidiously vile fashion.

    • [EnglebertFlaptyback]

      It’s interesting to me how the excessively cynical comments don’t seem to get retracted even when a participant corrects them.

  • [Repurposed]

    I imagine that if it was fake, we would fall upon it with all the glory that is internet rage.  There’s a little 4chan in all of us.

• [lou]

  That was awesome. But I wish I hadn’t read the comments. I was on a nice pro-humanity high, and then I had to read the, sadly, possible, cynicism about it being a viral ad for the Honda, and now I’m less joyful.

  • [Will Porter]

    Hang on to the joy — this one’s for real (I’m Isaac’s cousin, and one of the dancers). The sad part is that the marketing world has made it so hard for us to believe that people actually do this kind of thing for each other spontaneously, without payment.

    • [Megan]

      This totally made my day.  It is the happiest thing I’ve seen in a long time and makes me glad to be a human.  Even my crusty, Afghan war injured husband leaked around the eyes a little when I showed it to him.  (Shh, don’t tell him I told you.)  We are glad to see people love each other this much–not just the couple, but all of you friends and family who supported them.  Awesome job all the way around.  There will always be skeptics, ignore them.  Haters gonna hate, eh?

    • [Kimmo]

      Ah, now I see your next post, I see I’m perhaps preaching to the choir.

      Hands up if you want to reclaim reality from the fucking marketroids, peeps.

      • [Will Porter]

        Agreed 100%.

  • [chaopoiesis]

    Marketing’s a fast-moving profession: first they do viral, then everybody suspects it. So now the big money’s in meta-viral: find authentic videos, then jump in on the comments section with accusations of viral marketing, while conveniently dropping the name of the product that accidentally got placed. 

    Et voila!  Cost-effective as hell…

    • [Kimmo]

      Oh fuck, that makes too much sense.

      Please Mods, nuke the comment in case it’s not too late!

• [Art]

   Yeah!   As charming as it may be, it does look way too professional.

  And Jenna and Lou are right about the Honda CRV mention!

  It smells of corporate manipulation.

  • [nox]

    How do they synchronize everyone not wearing headphones?

    • [Art]

       Who knows?  Who cares? 

      The Honda Corporation can do anything. Including tugging at our lil’ ol’ heartstrings with a fake “real” video.

      • [Will Porter]

        Do you think Honda would have choreographed a classic “Toyota Jump” at 3:27? Relax — this one’s for real.  =)

    • [Will Porter]

      Mini-jack splitter going to headphones and car speakers.

    • [idiomat]

      They had the music on a splitter so the participants could hear it but also on Amy’s headphones so that the sound quality was better for her. It pays to have dancers and techno-geeks in the family pool. :) The whole thing is very real, I promise. 
      And nope, I don’t work for Honda.

    • [chaopoiesis]

      … starting with the neighbors.

  • [Jim Saul]

    What’s deeply hilarious and sad simultaneously is that even after the participants verify that it was done for fun, still people need to keep arguing that it’s fake.

    Some people just have fun, and are corny enough to stage stunts like this just for the memories.

    Really.

    Some people just enjoy life.

    • [Kimmo]

      I think you’re forgetting how much lag there can be between loading a page and making a comment… IME the real-time updating has been broken a while now. Maybe it’s just me, but then not everyone will have it enabled, anyway.

• [dcorbett]

  This is the most wonderful thing I’ve seen in years.

  A healthy dose of skepticism is a good thing, but those of you that commented otherwise have gone over the edge.

  Let yourself believe that occasionally, just occasionally, people do good things for each other, despite all the crap that happens on a daily basis.

  Give it a rest, why don’t you?

  • [silkox]

    Better still, cynical readers, do a tiny bit of due diligence. For example, look at the YouTube poster’s account: lots of videos of dancing, and at least two years of mentions of people named Amy and Isaac.

    Also, Honda might not have risked the dancing Jews sight-gags.

    • [mccrum]

       Obviously this was part of a long-term setup created by Honda two years ago when they thought these characters up.

      • [Jim Saul]

        Just wait, people are going to start claiming their birth certificates are forgeries.

    • [Snig]

      Or the two guys kissing.  Or someone riding, unbelted, in an open tailgate.   I can tell it’s authentic, I looked at the pixels.

    • [nox]

      Good point, now we know that Amy and Isaac are real people. Unfortunately that doesn’t prove or disprove anything about corporate involvement.

      My hunch is this is somewhere in the middle. Real proposal with potential Honda involvement.

      • [Will Porter]

        They made the car. That’s it.

        • [dragonfrog]

           See!  I knew it!  They made the car, and manipulated these people into buying one by giving it a combination of price and features that appealed to them.  Machiavelian!

      • [allium]

        And I suppose it’s just chance that you’re posting here and one of Chevrolet’s SUVs is the Equinox?

      • [LinkMan]

        No major corporation would permit their trademark to be mispunctuated like that (plus the other things Snig pointed out).

    • [ocker3]

       It took the second repetition of the lyric for me to get that joke, I thought it took it in a very funny direction, certainly more interesting than simply showing people drinking all the time.

• [Mephy]

  Haha, awesome.  Well done sir.  Also, is it just me or is that guy like 7 feet tall?

• [mccrum]

  It does seem a little suspicious that Honda would go through all this trouble to do this via a YouTube channel that has been out there for six years and has 12 videos.  I also think Honda  would have been pretty specific to put that hyphen in the name. 

  I don’t think getting your friends together to dance and putting two cameras in a car indicates “polished” and “too professional.”  I literally know over a hundred dancers and singers who would do the same thing for me if I asked.

  I’m with dcorbett, the amount of time you think skeptically about humanity should be offset by things like this that show a lot of people actually do care deeply for each other.

• [Samuel Slaton]

  I don’t think I’ve cried this much since my own wedding. This is so beautiful and good.

  • [Jason Weisberger]

    I laughed. I cried.

• [nudobato]

  Viral? Maybe. But still awesome.  And I kind of think it’s legit, if only for the “dancing Jews” gag- which I think is harmless and cute in itself, but wearing tallit like they’re loincloths is pretty fundamentally offensive.  That seems like something a bunch of friends putting together a show would do in ignorance, but a car company would research and nix.

• [murray]

  Way to make me cry (the good kind), BB. (The people who think it’s a Honda ad: wow. There are so many reasons you’re wrong. I’m a bit sad for your lack of basic analysis skills).

• [Michael Arras]

  My wife works with the groom-to-be’s mother.  This isn’t corporate sponsored.

• [Marcelo Teson]

  I’ve had this EXACT idea for years (too bad I thought of it AFTER I got married), but instead of a lip dub, everyone would be singing live and it would be mic’ed. I’d place hidden speakers all over a public park or something and then just the extras in the park would be the chorus. So it’s as if for a moment the real world became a musical for the proposal.

  I do like that it’s all people she knows, and my favorite thing is that every time she thinks it won’t get any bigger it does. That’s the key to making something like this go from “cute” to “magical.” When the marching band showed up I was in. All they needed was some pyro at the end.

  • [allium]

     It’s Oregon – the damp will nae let the fuse catch fire.

  • [penguinchris]

    In case you haven’t seen it, the “impromptu musical in real life” thing has been done by Improv Everywhere (and probably by others at this point as that was a couple years ago). 

    I liked this proposal one better but I agree that real-life singing is more epic. Maybe the next person to do this will do live singing (with a better song too, hopefully) :)

• [Alinds Transport]

   amazing works…

• [technogeekagain]

  Very, very nicely done.

  One thought: Don’t attempt this kind of production number unless you are Pretty Darned Sure you know the answer. You don’t want to put her (or him) in the position of having to say “I love you, I love all of you, but…”

  • [dragonfrog]

    Yeah, you kind of suspect this happened after a number of conversations about marriage and family and such – conversations that pretty neatly triangulated the answer without getting quite to the point of asking the question…

• [Greg Murphy]

  I’m just assuming this is Portland.

• [Terry Border]

  Great stuff. Really nice. In the back of my head though, the little cynical me wonders about so many personal moments that are now serving as opportunities to make viral videos. I just try to tell my little cynical self to hush up and try to enjoy them.

  • [James Harmon]

    I like to organize troubadours and fire twirler flash mobs for funerals and divorces.

  • [Will Porter]

    Honestly, the original intention was never to make a viral video — it was to make a great experience for Amy. Everyone involved (not to mention those who couldn’t make it that day) wanted video documentation, though, and of course we all shared it on our Facebook pages because we thought it was fun and hilarious. It just kind of grew from there…

• [Pat O’Brien]

  It’s funny how people think Honda endorsed this. If that was the case, why is there a KIA placed perfectly in the opening shot? Shouldn’t another Honda be there to reinforce brand recognition?

  Oh, and what about the Audio Technica headphones? They’re in perfect view of the camera for almost 6 minutes…

  • [oasisob1]

     You’re right. I changed my mind: Clearly it’s a sneaky Audio Technica ad.

• [idiomat]

  Hey Everyone, 

  These are all very real people with no Honda dollars, I promise.  You’re looking at Isaac Lamb, Amy Beth Frankel and a very enthusiastic group of their friends and family in Portland, Oregon.    The super impressive part of all of this is it was only rehearsed for a few hours total and the actual proposal was the first time they all did it right.  And, yup, he was pretty darned sure she’d say yes.

  Everyone in the video and on the outside is pretty giddy about it going viral, but that was never the intention.  Isaac and Amy are just happy to be engaged.  :)

  • [Bizket Jones]

    I was raised in Beaverton and have lived all over Portland during my first 30 years of life (almost literally) and I have to say that A) This is ‘normal’ behavior for Portland so I believe that it is real and B) How did it get so dusty in my apartment all of a sudden?  

  • [mrbofus]

    You should probably mention something about how you are related to the project, otherwise the cynics might not know why to take you at your word.

    Also, when you guys were practicing for hours, how did you block off the streets?  Did you have to get a permit?

    • [idiomat]

      I wasn’t there, but I’m good friends with the family and I’ve hung out in that street during many a bbq – believe me, it’s not busy.  The groom-to-be’s parents have lived there for years, so I’m guessing that they just told all of their neighbors what was up and hoped that any car that may happen to be passing would take an alternate route at the sight of a bunch of dancing strangers.

      Also, I’m not entirely concerned with cynics taking me at my word.  I just wanted to help the people who were as joyful at the video as I was to not let their initial sentiment be tempered by the idea of corporate sponsorship. :)

    • [Will Porter]

      I was there, and no we didn’t have a permit — we just cleared out of the street the three (3) times a car came by during our single rehearsal. I don’t believe one needs a permit for that kind of thing…

      • [mrbofus]

        Oh, I just assumed you would need a permit for something like that.  I thought that if the city/police saw the video and they wanted to be jerks, they could cite you guys for something [not sure what the laws in your area are about driving with someone in the back with the trunk open, blocking off streets, etc...], so I thought you guys might have gotten a permit to cover yourselves legally.  

        I’m glad it all worked out though! 

        • [Will Porter]

          Citing somebody for dancing in an empty side street? That’s not how we roll in Portland.

        • [mrbofus]

          @facebook-42007221:disqus :
          The comment system wouldn’t let me reply to your comment below; I guess we’ve reached the deepest nested level the system allows.Anyways, the citation wouldn’t be for somebody dancing in an empty side street.  It would be for a group of people blocking off the street without a permit.  It’s like when you throw a block party how many cities require you to obtain a permit.  Obviously you guys weren’t throwing a block party, but you were doing something where you [presumably] notified all your neighbors that you would be utilizing the roadway for a period of time.Anyways, it’s nice that your city officials are not being jerks. Or that you didn’t have to worry about them being being jerks in the future when you were planning and performing.

        • [Will Porter]

          Well, the street was really only “blocked” for the 5 minutes we were actually performing, so we had a negligible impact on local traffic. We didn’t set up cones or anything, and we let neighbors through during rehearsal time. I’ve never heard of anyone being cited for that kind of short-term activity in a side street — maybe in Soviet Russia?  ;)

• [omnivore]

  Well, the most striking fact for me – and assuming this isn’t a manipulative, irritating corporate marketing ploy – is that there are people whose idea of a proposal is indistinguishable from a corporate marketing ploy, engaging in a production whose point is to be seen by many others (hence the cameras). As it happens, my ex-wife insisted on having about 12 friends and relatives in the room for the home-birth  of my son (mercifully, without cameras). I hated the idea then, and the loss of privacy in such a critical, intimate moment of my life has always haunted and depressed me, although that didn’t quash the joy I felt at his birth. That’s not the effect it had on her, though, which is probably part of why we’re not married anymore. Hyperbole of lost souls like this can contain the seed of the destruction of thing they supposedly celebrate. And when I proposed to by girlfriend, last weekend, it was in a beautiful room, in the Canadian woods, with loons calling outside the window, a fire burning in a fireplace, in a big bed, in each other’s arms. You can’t see it on YouTube.

  Also, the song is atrocious, and that would be enough.

  The death and devaluation of privacy is the hallmark of the generation emerging. To quote Milan Kundera, “A man who loses his privacy loses everything. And a man who gives it up of his own free will is a monster.”

  • [Will Porter]

    These two have plenty of their own private moments, I can assure you. Sorry you didn’t like it, and good luck with your next marriage!

    • [MrJM]

      Will Porter FTW!

  • [jere7my]

    You think we can’t see it on YouTube.

    • [Jim Saul]

      I always wondered who the self-obsessed sourpuss in the background of that delightful birth video was.

  • [bwaterhouse]

    They’re actors. Performing in public is what they do. Get over it.

  • [omnivore]

     response to various commenters : I would think that the inability to face the existence of those who don’t happen to like what you like kind of relegates the value of those responses to something approaching zero. If it were a great work of art, there would be those who disagree with it – that’s how you know it’s a great work of art. Those voices are allowed to be heard. And if it’s trash, then why not say so? And so on through any other reaction people might have. Why is it so hard for you to accept opinions freely expressed without rancor?
    I don’t say they shouldn’t do what they did, I say what’s obvious – that there are now people who use advertising as the model for their emotional life’s expressions. That’s depressing, and it’s the debate in the comments before I commented that makes it clear that it’s the case, not what I said. I wish them all the happiness – and Will Porter, many thanks for your best wishes. jere7my – you made me snort my coffee out my nose. bwaterhouse, geech – “get over it” is the kind of thoughtless non-response that is really just noise. Reminiscent of what used to be said to various uppity folks who had some “issue”. Surely if all comments are supposed to say is, “nice job!”, “so sweet!”, or “that was totally awesome!!!” then Boing Boing could save us all lots of time and fill in the response field for us, or provide a popdown menu of acceptable choices.

    • [mikey p]

      I don’t disagree with your right to disagree, I just disagree with your analysis.

      I don’t think they’ve used advertising as their model. They’ve used the musical song-and-dance number as their model. My guess is that, as entertainers themselves, they’re familiar with, and fond of, that model from its theatrical and filmic history.

      I think you’re perhaps more familiar with this tradition from its use in advertising, and are therefore less fond of it. But I think you’re misinterpreting advertising’s use of a trope from musicals as advertising itself being the source of that trope. It isn’t.

      Advertisers will use anything feel-good they can get their hands on. It doesn’t mean that when a child laughs, or a rainbow appears above the city, or a man stages an elaborate dance routine to propose marriage, that these things are derived from advertising.

      • [Kimmo]

        The song was awful though, and IMO a good part of the reason some folks smelled a rat; it seemed like just the sort of cheesy, slick crap you get in an ad.

        But hey, I guess there’s no shortage of folks who like awful music; just look at Eurovision.

    • [Jim Saul]

      Sometimes, friend, there are moments in life that are not about you.

    • [mike fayer]

      “…who use advertising as the model for their emotional life’s expressions” you say this as if its fact. I think the reaction you’re getting is due to the fact that people question your premises.

      That characterization is one of several possible interpretations, and also the most cynical one. How about a less cynical interpretation: “a group of people who are already performers who decided to imbue an important moment with love and creativity and then share the resulting joy with the world.” I like that one more.

      • [Kimmo]

        Damn straight.

  • [EnglebertFlaptyback]

    You’re trying entirely too hard.

  • [spiderman0521]

    When it comes to something like a marriage proposal (and there isn’t much like it to begin with), my style is much more like yours. Since the couple is obviously (not) asking for my opinion, here it is. For me, this is a work of art that I applaud and I can appreciate the sentiment, the effort, and the skill, but don’t have to love it, and for some of the same reason you give. I would be happy to do something creative and crazy like this for my girlfriend’s birthday, but not for a marriage proposal.
    When I first saw this days ago, it made me uncomfortable because it treated something that, in my opinion, is one of the more intimate moments in a person’s life, as a public performance for friends, neighbors, and passersby. I have no suspicions whether it’s genuine. Not even I am that cynical.

    I have spent time around theater people and I’ve lived in Portland as well; the intersection of those two groups obviously has some unreserved and generous people.It looks like everyone had a wonderful time, most importantly the engage-er and engage-ee. Bravo!

• [geech]

   Nice. As a fellow Portlander, I am very glad they are so happy, so creative and so willing to share. That was fucking awesome.

• [StudioRobot]

  This is the most depressing and dissonant thread ever. ALSO: HAHAHA IT WAS PORTLAND!

• [geech]

  Omnivore, they are theater actors. Get over it. What you described sounds great on many levels. You offer up a Kundera quote but seem so cynical that you can’t see past media pollution to get the very sweet core at the heart of this. That a bit sad.

• [MarlboroTestMonkey7]

  First anniversary:  OK Go at their doorstep.

  • [allium]

    Second anniversary: Unscheduled solar eclipse.
    Third anniversary: Fine structure constant changed to 1/138.
    Fourth anniversary: Causality suppressed so that it has always been their fourth anniversary…

    …my Glob, they must be stopped!

    • [Felton / Moderator]

      Who would have guessed the Olympian deities were now living in Portland?

• [Robin Doran]

  Its Portland?  I’m surprised no one put a bird in the video.  I guess this just happens there http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE_9CzLCbkY

• [igzabier]

  。・゜・(ノД`)・゜・。
  ヾ(＠⌒ー⌒＠)ノ♡

• [accordingtosmith]

  I like to think that the world has amazing people that do amazing things like this – in fact, I do know some. I don’t know the couple in the video. I can only assume that they chose to share with the world what is commonly a very personal moment simply because that’s who they are. I’m glad that there are all sorts of people in this world, even the skeptics whose lives are obviously not as full of joy as they could be. Surround yourself with amazing people and this could be your life too! Congratulations to Isaac and Amy; you don’t know me, but you made my day brighter, and you have my best wishes for a life full of amazing people and amazing times!

  • [penguinchris]

    Agreed. Liked. 

    I think BB comments have gotten even more cynical and negative than normal lately. I laughed it off a bit when it was brought up recently (by Mark in the comments about Maker Faire fashions) but after this it’s undeniable. There are a lot of assholes here. 

    I know I’m one of them (it infects you when you spend as much time here as I do) and I guess all I can do is apologize to the wind and try to think positively in the future :)

    I loved this video. Brought a tear to my eye. I love musicals (particularly tap-dancing ones with Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly) and I wish I lived in a place and had the kind of friends where this sort of thing is possible.

  • [EnglebertFlaptyback]

    Will Porter above has commented that the video was originally recorded with the intent of making available to the participants.  Some of those participants shared it on Facebook, and it just snowballed from there.

    This is a truly “viral” video.  The concept has been bastardized by advertisers,  but in the end those advertisements are *not* actually viral videos.  

• [dbarton]

  I checked the comments here just to make sure you guys are as predictably cynical as I thought you were. Congratulations on dying alone.

  • [Tunacorn]

    Try re-reading your comment. Do you see the irony?

• [Jack Ludwing]

  “Thanks for making us all look like lazy f*cks”

  Best Youtube Comments from the video  http://www.dacritics.org/2012/05/lip-dub-proposal-portland-actor-isaac.html

• [agrovista]

  Here is an article about the couple http://www.oregonlive.com/living/index.ssf/2012/05/portland_marriage_proposal_vid.html

• [Atomicpanda]

  Even as a straight man, I would have married him after that. 

• [taras]

  No pressure at all then…

  Cute though!

• [Gene Poole]

  I wonder how long before the video’s taken down due to a copyright claim from universal or something. did they license the rights to the song? This is suable shit right here. $150 000 per youtube view. I hope one of those dancers is a litigation lawyer.

  //heh//

  • [Jim Saul]

    The singer tweeted out a link to the video a couple of hours ago:

    “Bruno Mars ‏@BrunoMars
    Congrats to Isaac Lamb and the future Mrs.. I don’t think I could’ve made a better music video for this song. Thank you vimeo.com/42828824″

    • [Gene Poole]

       I think recent events have shown that the record labels don’t give a damn what the artists’ feelings are when it comes to infringement. After all, it’s the studios that own all the copyrights.

      • [Kimmo]

        Yup.

        I almost hope Universal go after them, because sooner or later these scumbags are gonna push that bit too far to get away without pissing off too many folks to survive.

• [crummett]

  Yea Portland! God, I love this town! Best wishes and congratulations to the happy couple.

• [Marky]

  It’s good to have friends…

  Now get this dust out of my room!

• [Gyrofrog]

  The guy has 60 friends willing to help like this?  I’d say that tips the scale toward “yes”

• [BunnyShank]

  obviously its an ad for Jews
  how great was it to see her lap pounding  joy!

• [nem0fazer]

  Why is it everytime I try and reply on bb it drops it in as a new comment and I can’t delete but have to edit?

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    http://disqus.com/support/

• [francoisroux]

  I swear, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many sour pusses together in one place. Fucking hell, it’s like people can’t be happy for other people. You know, hey those people had so much fun, let’s be complete assholes and say it’s fake because we can’t believe others can be so happy.

  Sour pusses make me sad.

  Now that we got that out of the way.

  Man, what a great video. Me feet tapped along and I shook my head and if it wasn’t the middle of the night with my family sleeping I’d be singing along as loud as I could!

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    The dead crave life, yet hate the living.

• [Wiki-Truths]

  All down hill from here! She’ll be thinking of this wonderful day when he’s walking around in his boxer, farting and still not picking up after himself. 

  I can’t even get 2 friends over for drinks let alone 60 for choreographed dancing. (and all the subsequent practices.  

  also, I will marry you girl in red dress and boots.

• [LightningRose]

  Thank you, Cory. I really needed that today. :)

• [Mick de Boer]

  This clip was great, what a positive vibe. My best wishes for the happy couple!

  Sad, if people look for a negative explanation/angle, when they see something so positive. Even if it would have been a Honda viral, it would still be a wonderful and uplifting clip.

  Thank you for sharing, I’ve really enjoyed it!

  Mick

• [Jeremy Pickett]

  i rarely tear up, but damn that was uplifting.  when i proposed to my wife 13 years ago *those* were the feelings that i felt, i just didn’t have a backup dance group :)  and even though we are apart waay too often due to work, that’s still how i feel. 

  congrats to you two, and damn do i miss Oregon :)

• [Lauren Quintero]

  Wonderful. 

• [Judi Goldberg]

  Mazel Tov to the happy couple, their families and friends.  What a beautiful joyous way to start a marriage!

• [DMStone]

  I doubt a Live Dub-Step proposal would be quite as charming.

• [Nicolas Alard]

  Boo! there are some terrible comments here. I am sorry something happened in your life to make you look at all events in such a sour light.

  I loved the video, nice work!

• [Michael Johnson]

  I grew up with the  choreographer.  This wasn’t an AD haha.  

• [MandoZink]

  This was just awesomely cute. It made me tear up. I interrupted my wife’s zombie movie to make her watch this.

  When I asked my wife to marry me she had a raging flu. It was midnight, Jan1, 2000. I made her get out of her sick-bed and sit on the couch, telling her this was a once in a lifetime event.  She was so, so sick – she could hardly move.  Then I popped the question. Five minutes late she was out in the street throwing firecrackers, saying she didn’t feel sick anymore. That wellness only lasted a few hours. She still had to finish out her flu.

• [MrJM]

  My subconscious has made up a whole back story for the lead dancer in the red skirt.  Did she really choreograph the dance?  Is she really Amy’s sister?  That’s the story I’ve developed in my mind.

  • [Will Porter]

    Yes to first question, no to second.  =)  She and her husband (shaggy-haired dude) are really good friends of the family, though!

• [OtherMichael]

  I can’t find the button to up-vote this post so it stays at the top of the BB front-page….

  At the same time, the complaints of “I don’t want that to happen to me” remind me of the TV-show within “Crimen Ferpecto”.

• [Ryan Lenethen]

  I prefer my marriage proposals to be by memo or facsimile.

• [Shelley Barker]

  As a mature,  sometime-cynic (ie., cranky old broad) , this marriage proposal video brought tears. Don’t let the romance out of your lives! We don’t all have actor friends to help pull off this kind of event but WOW it sure is great when somebody goes to this kind of effort for somebody else.  Thanks Isaac and friends, LOVED IT!!

• [simonbarsinister]

  Never ask a question you don’t already know the answer to.
    – Old lawyers proverb

• [geohump]

  TOTALLY FREAKING AWESOME. 
  (repeat gogol times or as needed) 

• [zachstronaut]

  I say congrats to this couple, and all of the performers!

  The negativity of the comments here is kind of shocking.

• [Daniel Heneghan]

  These are the worst comments I’ve ever read. What a cute video and a fun, beautiful, and special way to propose. They’re obviously in love, I am happy for them.