How Sweet Is This Movie Theater Proposal?
On their first date, Madison and Jason talked all about movies. A few months into dating, they got a theater membership and began seeing movies together almost every week. But recently, at a cinema in Manhattan, something unusual happened…
Madison: We had a very normal morning and went to Hani’s Bakery for pastries. The only thing that stood out to me was that I’ve been encouraging Jason to get new sneakers, and the day before we got engaged, he got a brand new pair.
Jason: I had a couple of movie-related ideas for the proposal, but the marquee was the best one. I called Village East about my idea, and they could not have been nicer. That weekend, I told Madison that we were going to see the 25th-anniversary screening of Legally Blonde and that we were going to dinner with friends afterward so that she would dress up a bit.
Madison: He’d barely stepped out of the taxi before he got down on one knee.
Jason: I wanted to say something like, ‘Madison, I love you so much, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.’ And maybe, ‘Our life is like the best movie,’ even though she probably would have laughed at that last line.
Jason: It’s true that you do kind of black out. I forgot everything I’d prepared to say except, ‘Will you marry me?’
Madison: After I said yes, all our relatives came rushing out. They’d been hiding in the lobby, watching the proposal.
Jason: I’d thought about the public-ness of the proposal because we’re not a couple that loves attention. But the marquee was just so perfect that I was like, Okay, even if it is a little public, it’s worth it.
Madison: It also didn’t feel too public because it was a rainy day. And the marquee was such a great idea — it felt very ‘us.’
Jason: When we went inside, the theater employees told us that while they’ve done marquee proposals before, this was the first time they’d actually seen the proposal happen. They were all really excited.
Jason: Nowadays, friends who pass the movie theater will sometimes text a photo. It’s like our own little landmark.
*Lightning round!*
Movie line that’s quoted most often in your household?
Madison: When one of us has plans without the other, we channel the dad in My Big Fat Greek Wedding and say, ‘Why do you have to leave me???’
Best wedding scene?
Madison: The final scene of Bridesmaids when they sing ‘Hold On’ with Wilson Phillips.
Favorite older rom-coms?
Jason: When Harry Met Sally and Moonstruck.
Madison: Ten Things I Hate About You.
What have you learned about love from rom-coms?
Madison: Find the right person at the right time (500 Days of Summer), marry your best friend (13 Going On 30), and stick with each other through all seasons of life (When Harry Met Sally).
Thank you so much for sharing your proposal with us, Jason and Madison!
P.S. More proposal stories, including at a beach, a park, and a bakery. xoxo
(Photos by Hallie Geller Photography.)
Tags: proposal
Comments
58 commentsI pass by Village East on the walk I take almost daily from my apartment to my gym. I recall seeing this on the marquee and smiling to myself, thinking about how much I love humans. I actually snapped a photo of it! I went back in my camera roll to check if it was the same proposal and it was :)
Such a wholesome proposal!
I’ve married twice and have experienced zero proposals.
this is tooooo cute!!!
SO MUCH FUN SHOOTING THIS PROPOSAL ! if interested in seeing more photos please take a look at my website! https://halliegellerphotography.mypixieset.com/clients/
What a fabulous memory to start their marriage journey with! Many congratulations to you both and may you have many happy years together.
I do not like the idea of a public proposal but this one, I LOVE!
I am not American and I come from a culture where men don’t do big theatrical proposals (we talk about and decide whether we want to get married, like equal adults). My now ex husband proposed into a very public place (a touristy spot in Reykjavik) and I didn’t think it was romantic. I felt a) really self-concious and b) very pressured to say yes. I guess I would have married him anyway if we had had a proper conversation where I was in control, but every time I see these proposals I truly feel for the poor woman who is put on the spot.
I’m sorry that wasn’t right for you, but it seems like she was delighted at this movie theater proposal. I think if she’d felt “put on the spot” or uncomfortable, she probably wouldn’t have shared the proposal on a pretty huge blog. Just my two cents!
Most of the time at least in my region of the US where proposals are usually happening after a long length of dating, the couple has almost always had extensive conversations and agreed together to get engaged just like you describe. Often going together to look at rings, or picking out the ring together (I picked my own out). The proposal with the event is often more for fun, to celebrate. Usually there is very little element of surprise for the actual decision to get engaged – you’ve already been clear you want to say yes! The way this article was written and how they spoke about their relationship, I highly doubt she was surprised at the question. She was only surprised at the fun event he planned so they could celebrate their mutual decision together and with family more officially.
oh yes, she said they’d already picked out a ring, so she knew it was coming any day, likely that weekend. but the proposal is just a joyful moment to celebrate!
As a fellow non-American, I absolutely relate. I can appreciate the proposals posted here like I would a movie (and because, as was pointed out, the couples are obviously delighted) but I’m also left with a lingering feeling of unease: why do we have to make a spectacle of our most intimate moments? Why do we want them to be fit for screens? More and more, I feel like reclaiming privacy is an act of resistance in this world. (I realize that I’m getting deeper than I thought I would!)
Carly, I think it is a very cultural thing and I would also hate that; but also, we eat snails in France and horse (I don’t, I’m a vegetarian), I understand foreigners think it’s gross. I have a lot of curiosity for these customs but really couldn’t adopt them, it’s a bit gross to me ;-). love from Paris
They obviously had talked about whether or not they wanted to get married, as two consenting adults. Not sure why you’re implying that Americans don’t do that. Proposals are usually not out of the blue in terms of aligning on your future…
As someone who loves movies beyond (partial to the Film Forum tho ;) this post made me SO incredibly happy. What a wonderful, thoughtful, personalized proposal. Jason is my hero. I can only imagine every anniversary ahead celebrating with your fave person in your fave theatre. With the world feeling so broken – this made me smile wide. Thank you for sharing it with all of us. Wishing you both a happily ever after (sorry for the movie pun, had to).
My first date with my husband was a lunch date and we ended up on the topic of movies, which led to plans to meet up after work at his apartment to watch a movie… we stayed up until 3:00am watching random movies and the rest is history.
This is such a lovely post! Congratulations to the happy couple! Okay, and I have to share my now husband’s proposal. He loves, loves, loves classic rock. I do as well, but may just 1-2 loves depending on the song. He has introduced me to a lot of deeper cuts and/or songs I just didn’t pick up on because they did not play them on the radio growing up. Our favorite couple song became “Romeo and Juliet” by the Dire Straits. In it, Mark Knopfler sings quietly, “you and me babe, how ’bout it?”. So just over two years ago, we went to a concert with Steve Miller Band, Foreigner, and Journey. As Journey began playing Faithfully, he turned and hugged me tight. I thought “wow, he really loves this song!” lol! Then he whispered in my ear “you and me babe, how ’bout it?” and slid a ring on my finger. Of course I said yes! We eloped a few months later, and then hosted a rock & roll themed party for friends and family. My best friends acted as door women with a velvet rope. He had “backstage passes” with everyone’s names and table numbers. It was a whole vibe and I loved planning every sappy minute of it! Oh! And my brother, a very talented musician, played “Romeo and Juliet” for our first dance!
That is awesome!!!
I love these people! Every movie they mention is on my favorites list. Although – and I’m sure Joanna agrees – ‘So I Married an Axe Murderer’ is also an excellent wedding movie.
I absolutely love this whole thing- the couple, their shared love for movies and cinema, the instant proposal, and the family waiting nearby. The popcorn bag in the last photo is iconic. I love how they’ll have their own little landmark. My husband and I met in our early 20s while very busy working, so I always say we started going on real dates after we got married, before kids. On Saturdays, in every city we’ve lived in, we would go to bakeries when they opened, see the earliest matinee, day drink and play games/read, go to bed by 8pm. It was glorious. My version of this proposal would be at Logan Theater in Chicago.
I love this!!
Ten Things I Hate About You is an OLDER ROM-COM?!? Am I old?!? 🤣😭
I felt that one too! Is it because there aren’t that many rom-coms anymore?
It was made 27 years ago. I know what you mean. Things from the 70s seem like yesterday to me. Shows I used to watch that don’t seem that old to me are old ! I can’t believe All in the Family started 55 years ago. Sad to say things are even worse now than when that show controversially aired. But I digress. I never saw Ten Things I Hate About You. I remember a co-worker loaned it to me and I never got around to watching it. But anyway tempus fugit.
lol WE are old, right there with you!!
I love that you said tempus fugit.
@Sarah Levy Take heart. The “older rom-coms” are the greatest rom-coms. There hasn’t been a truly great rom-com in the past ten to fifteen years, or maybe even longer. This is the hill I will die on.
It came out in 1999, so 27 years ago – I think that qualifies! We are old!
So cute! Also it’s gonna take me a while to recover from hearing that 10 Things I Hate About You now qualifies as an “older” rom com
Love everything about this! Congratulations!
Congrats to the couple, this is so cute!! On my first date with my husband, we also talked movies. Moonlight had just come out, so we went to see it on our second date (loved it! But I was also a bit distracted by the cute guy next to me). We just saw it again at a 10 year anniversary screening a couple weeks ago :)
How sweet. What a special memory!
A day i will never forget!! Best day with the best people. So excited for the sequel next year ❤️
Am I having déjà vu, or was this posted before? I swear I saw this post maybe last week!
Haha it was accidentally scheduled and published for a few minutes, but we took it down because we hadn’t planned to have it up on the site just yet :)
thank goodness someone else said this… i was convinced i was losing my mind today. i knew i had seen this before. I already was discombobulated as i had seen a work email in the morning, then it completely disappeared and i can’t find it, i just know the information that was in there.
oh yes, it was the unedited version! we took it down, edited, and now published for real :)
Congrats! What an adorable couple! My husband and I both blacked out during our proposal those nerves are real. Good thing there are photos or we might not believe it happened!
The absolute sweetest pair🩶
I love a grand gesture!!! This is so incredibly sweet. I also think about the scene in 500 Days of Summer where the best friend character (Matthew Gray Gubler(sp?)) is asked to describe his dream woman and then he does and then says, “..but I would still choose [name of partner] … because she’s real.” The delivery of the line is just so pure and good!!!!
This is just delightful! Congratulations!
It’s one small popcorn, Michael. What could it cost, 10 dollars?
hahahaha
YESSSSS!!
Hi, CoJ hive mind! So sorry to commandeer an adorable proposal, but I have a question for NYC parents: Has anyone used a nanny/childcare service to find a babysitter? My family is traveling to New York soon, and we are looking for a sitter to watch our kids for a few nights. I found a few agencies that specialize in nanny/sitter placement, but even going through a company, it does seem like a little bit of a leap of faith to entrust the care of my kids to a stranger in a foreign city. Has anyone done something like this? The two services I have looked into are Frances Stewart and Babysitter’s Guild. Any anecdotal advice or tips appreciated!
Hi – I typically join either care.com, or a Facebook mom group. I post about what I am looking for. I do a FaceTime call to “vet” the candidate. I ask for 2 references, who I do check in with. Then, when we confirm the ‘booking’ I ask for a copy of their driver’s license and Google everything about them. Best to do all of this only 1-2 weeks before you go, because sitters often cancel if it’s too far in advance. Also – I tend to overpay to ensure it’s a good job and the person actually shows up…in NYC this likely means something like $50/hr…
I have done this before but it was in DC. I used a local FB group to find someone who seemed to be recommended by local moms and did a lot of vetting. I also researched her and found out that she had nannied for a former colleague so that gave me some reassurance. I usually avoid nanny agencies or placement companies unless they have a lot of legit reviews – I used one in Chicago and basically the placement agency lead was the nanny herself. She charged me a placement fee, plus I had to pay her as a nanny and she basically seemed to be on her phone the whole time.
No movie after?
They went out to dinner with family!
Perfect!
Oh, my word. This is so good. Hey, everybody likes being incahoots on a marriage proposal, so I’m not surprised that the theater helped out and your friends still commemorate it. Congratulations!
I love this and they’re both adorable! Joe and I are movie critters as well, and can confirm that the Village East folks are THE BEST – I’ve volunteered at film festivals there several times and they couldn’t be lovelier! Their main theater is also flat-out gorgeous, one of the few of its kind left in the city, and one of my favorite places to see movies! https://www.6sqft.com/the-urban-lens-inside-the-village-east-cinema-one-of-nys-last-surviving-yiddish-rialto-theaters/
So cute! When my (now) husband proposed, we were on a backpacking trip and a storm was rolling in so all I got was a “will you marry me?” and my response was “are you kidding right now?!” then “yes, but let’s go, we need to find shelter” LOL. We also love the movies so I think this is SUCH a cute idea!
So heartwarming. Congratulations, people 🥂
I love this – and I can smell the popcorn!
So fun, and their movie picks are spot on. The Bridesmaids scene runs rent-free in my head.
This is so sweet!!!
Congratulations🍿🥂🍾