When Chris Collinge planned to propose to his girlfriend of seven years, Libby Reeves, he knew he had to do something big.
His idea? Hiring a plane with a huge banner reading, “Libby, will you marry me ❤️.”
The plan was to pop the question when the plane flew by the revolving restaurant in downtown Vancouver as their family and friends ate dinner last Friday.
“She’s not about material things. But I’ve asked her the question a couple times over the years, and she had mentioned that she would want a formal, memorable proposal,” Collinge told Daily Hive.
“And she has done nice, beautiful things for my birthday in the past, so I just knew that the more I could put out for this and to make it special, the happier she would be.”
The plane was supposed to fly by at 8:15 pm, but nothing happened as he eagerly stared out the window.
“I just thought that [the pilot] had the wrong address or the wrong revolving restaurant,” said Collinge. “Once it came to 8:30, 8:35, 8:40, I knew, I knew there was a problem. It started getting dark.”
Reeves sensed something was off too because almost everyone at the dinner table was looking out at the window except her.
Thankfully, the plane was only part of the grand plan. Collinge’s two children made T-shirts saying, “Will you marry my dad” with markers Reeves bought them.
Chris Collinge/Submitted
“It was good with the shirt part. He was like, well, sorry I ordered a plane. I burst out crying at the restaurant because I didn’t know if he was being serious or not,” said Reeves. “It caught me off guard.”
She said yes despite the hiccup.
It turned out that the couple couldn’t see the plane because of the angle and direction of the windows in the restaurant compared to the plane’s height — they couldn’t see where it was flying. The pilot refunded part of the fee.
Luckily, their friend David Meara posted in a Facebook community group asking onlookers to capture the moment so the couples would have an extra memory. Dozens answered the call, posting pictures and videos they had taken.
@Colmán Heeran/ Facebook
“That is the straight up cutest shit I’ve ever heard,” a commentator noted.
“This was posted in my community group… They’re all waiting on an answer….” another wrote.
“Let’s just hope she doesn’t pop onto Facebook to kill some time before dinner 😂,” a third comment said.
It’s not just Facebook users. Redditors contributed without any prior request.
@Mediocre_Plum_7573/Reddit
@sharkgirll/Reddit
The couple said they were overwhelmed by the response.
“It made up to me. It didn’t matter that I didn’t get to see it, ’cause it was so big already, I got to see it from everyone else’s point of view. It just kind of made it more special for me actually,” said Reeves.
Chris Collinge/Provided
The banner isn’t wasted too. It now overlooks the family on the banister at their home.
Chris Collinge/Provided
When asked if they plan to go big at their wedding, the couple laughed and said nothing super crazy. But there is still a chance that love will be in the air.
“The pilot asked if we would need another banner for the wedding. So yeah we might do that again.”
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