VANCOUVER -- When a photo of a Vancouver park with the words “Will you marry me Emilee?” spelled out in Christmas lights was posted to Reddit on Tuesday night, the internet needed to know: who is Emilee? And, more importantly, did she say yes?
CTV News tracked down the mystery couple to find out how the public proposal came to be, and how she responded.
Xander Miller and his girlfriend Emilee Moore had talked about marriage. But Miller knew he had to surprise his future bride with a knock-your-socks-off proposal. So he decided to pop the question in lit up cursive letters in Coal Harbour’s Marina Square park.
“We walked by this area many times, so I thought this would be a special spot to do it,” said Miller. “There was a lot of testing. So, the day before I snuck here with my friends, we tried some things, figured out the right height and looked up there and said yeah, it looks good.”
Tuesday was Moore’s 26th birthday. Miller told her that they had to stop by a friend's high-rise condo that overlooked the park.
“The door opens and I immediately see lights and rose petals and one of my favorite songs is playing, so I thought, 'oh here we go, it’s happening,'” said Moore.
“Then we walked around to the front," Miller said. "There were candles everywhere, lots of bouquets of flowers, and then we got to the edge where the window is where could look down. There was a nice big heart where we could stand."
He pointed down at the park below and Moore saw it: “Will you marry me Emilee?”
“I saw the lights and everything and I said, 'yes,' already, even before he actually asked," Moore said. "And then he finally said a bunch of stuff I cannot recall. I have no idea. I think I just blacked out for awhile, and then he got down on one knee and I said, 'Yes yes yes yes,'” said Moore.
While they were celebrating, a Coal Harbour resident posted a photo of the lit up proposal on Reddit, and the online community was determined to find out who Emilee was, and whether she said yes.
“So one of our friends sent it over and said, 'Your proposal's on Reddit,'” said Moore. “It was kind of cool people liked it so much.”
The couple recently moved to Los Angeles, but will be getting married next Aug. 15 in Abbotsford, surrounded by friends and family.
Moore now sports a large circle-cut diamond engagement ring, and gives her future husband a grade of “100 billion out of 10” for his proposal, calling it the best birthday present ever.
