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engagement

Lee Loechler's incredible "Sleeping Beauty" proposal.

There are creative, romantic proposals, and then there's this one.

Lee Loechler recently proposed to his girlfriend, Sthuthi David, by taking her to a packed theater to see her favorite Disney movie, Sleeping Beauty. Little did she know that Loechler had spent six months altering the animation of the film's most iconic scene, changing the characters to look like the couple themselves and altering the storyline to set up his Big Question. And that's only the beginning.

Watching David's face during the scene change is sheer delight, as her confused look proves that she has no clue what is about to happen.


The set-up is great, but the magical moment when Loechler's illustrated self tosses the engagement ring to his real-life self? That's when we all toss up our hands and say, "OKAY, man. You win at proposing. Everyone else must bow before you now."

The whole proposal—the re-illustrations, the heart jokes (David is a cardiologist), and the bride-to-be's surprise when she finds herself surrounded by friends and family—it's all perfection. Just watch:

Amazing, right? Lee Loechler set the bar ridiculously high, but even the most cynical among us have to give him props for his creativity.

Reddit users' responses to the video were hilarious, and reflect what we all feel watching this masterpiece.

"Welp this guy went and did it, theres no point in any of us proposing now he's out done us all." - XXLpeanuts

"I was just gonna propose to my girlfriend in the Starbucks parking lot where I first told her I loved her. Welp, that ain't gonna do anymore..." - mattrva

"I proposed to my wife in front of Disney Castle in Orlando and I've never felt less proud about it than after watching this video lol. For real though this is one of the best proposals I've ever seen, bravo." - thenaniwatiger

"I thought I was smooth with my bridge and lilyponds on a blacksand beach in Hawaii..... this guy just went and rewrote theatrical history, broke the forth wall, made a 4th dimensional joke and timed it perfectly, made a highbrow doctors joke, conspired with the internet, and filled a theater with family and friends." - ooooopium

"Goddamn I am cold, cynical bastard and you just warmed my heart with how hard you just crushed it, my dude. I'll say it. I am flat out envious." - Dr_Frasier_Bane

Congratulations and best wishes to the lovely couple. May you truly live happily ever after.


This article originally appeared on 01.09.20

When Becky McCabe proposed to her girlfriend, Jessa Gillaspie, she had no idea that her response would be ... pretty darn remarkable.

It all went down at the Memphis Zoo, the location of the couple's first date. Bringing friends along to capture the moment, McCabe had arranged for one of her friends to capture the proposal on video. But, as she knelt down to propose, the response from her girlfriend wasn't what she expected.


Gillaspie laughed and turned to pull out her own engagement ring for McCabe. She'd planned to propose to the love of her life that day, too.

There were tears of joy. Lots of them.

[rebelmouse-image 19494243 dam="1" original_size="735x681" caption="Image via CBS News/Twitter." expand=1]Image via CBS News/Twitter.

Is that not the most heartwarming response to "Will you marry me?" ever?!

The world is in awe at the beautiful, adorable, downright loving proposal.  

The responses to the video show just how important representation is and that lifelong love for queer couple is possible.

The number of same-sex marriages has continued to rise throughout the U.S. since it was legalized in 2015, as have the positive responses to queer couples.

Still, that representation sometimes doesn't make its way into mainstream culture. The Trump administration continues to try and roll back LBGTQ rights, including protection for LGBTQ workers, and removing LGBTQ-friendly language from government documents. Wedding companies still cater to straight couples, queer individuals struggles to navigate their way through dating spaces, and same-sex couples often find few examples of themselves in television and in pop culture.

But, that's slowly changing, and it's extremely important that queer young people know that love is possible.

Love is often the thing that moves us forward. If these lovebirds are any indication, our world is doing just that.

More

A woman responds to silly people asking her when she's going to upgrade her wedding ring.

Some folks questioned the size of her wedding ring. She had a lovely response.

It's easy to see why people get excited about diamond rings.

They're shiny, they're beautiful, and they're stunning visual proof of a moment of intense happiness for many couples. 

"You're engaged?! Let's see the ring!"


"Post it to Facebook immediately!" Photo via iStock

But there's an ugly side to engagement and wedding rings, too. And that's the idea that the carat count ought to reflect a couple's status in life, the size of their love, or the strength of their commitment.

According to data from 2012 from the Jewelers of America, Americans spend an average of around $4,000 on engagement rings. Wedding website The Knot pegged the number somewhere closer to $6,000 in 2014.

If our obsession with fancy diamond rings is indeed rising, it's probably not because we're learning to love each other more. 

We're just feeling more pressure than ever to keep up.

Rachel Pederson was getting a lot of comments from friends and family about the size of her ring. Eventually, she had enough.

Rachel is a marketer and social media personality, so she had the perfect platform to say what was on her mind.

It didn't take long for her response to go viral.

Here's the full text:

"Yes, I know that my wedding ring is small.


Friends and family often ask me when I'm going to have it 'upgraded'.... After all, it doesn't represent the level of success we are achieving.


I've even had one person say 'you could wear a bigger ring for important events, so people don't think you're not successful.'


Wait a minute.... Since when did the size of someone's ring become an indication of success?!


For me, the ring is SO much more.


My ring symbolizes a whirlwind, storybook, 'make you sick' love story.... It reminds me of how my husband and I met and fell at in love in one night at a Perkin's diner.


He worked as a window washer, and I was a single mother.


One short week later, and we professed our love to one another, him leading the conversation.


We couldn't stop dreaming of our future, so excited to have a baby, buy a house, and fall asleep together every night.


We couldn't wait for the future. So we didn't.


13 days after meeting, we eloped. I didn't even THINK about a ring until my husband surprised me before the ceremony. He drained his savings to gift me with a small token of his love.


I say small, only because it pales in comparison with how big his love is, even now, after years of marriage.


That, my friends, is success to me."













Bam! Thanks, Rachel, for the excellent reminder.

No one wins when we play the ring-size game. Ring buyers feel the stress of breaking the bank while ring wearers might feel pressure to eventually "upgrade" their ring if it's small or to explain away discrepancies between the sizes of their diamond and their bank account.

And, hey, some people really want to express their love with a big ol' diamond. That's fine too.

Let's just not forget what great marriages are really made of: love, passion, and a lot of hard work.

Next to those, even the brightest diamonds in the world pale in comparison.