10 unforgettable marriage proposals

Sometimes the writing is on the wall. And sometimes it isn't—until you put it there. That's what Jeff Gurwin did in 2011, when he had graffiti artists create a Scrabble-themed landscape on a brick wall in New York's East Village. When it was finished, he asked his betrothed-to-be, Caitlin, to take a walk with him, and proposed to her when she saw it. The graffiti stayed up for a month—but the stop motion-animated video Jeff created to memorialize it will remain on the Internet forever.

Thanks to social media, proposals in the digital age may never be the same. Stacy Green was alerted to her pending engagement when friends, family and even her high school English teacher began texting her with messages of congratulations. It turns out that Green's tech-savvy beau had posted an infographic proposal on Mashable, where Green works. The creative visual data statistically broke down why the two were soul mates, and ended with the big question.

When cameraman Joao Martins was assigned to cover the premiere of The Last Samurai in 2004, he never imagined that the star of the film, Tom Cruise, would agree to help him propose to his girlfriend, Sonia Braz. However, once Cruise heard Martins' plea, he faced the camera and said, Sonia, you have to marry Joao. Please marry Joao. He is crying behind the camera.

It's one thing to convince a dancer to be part of a flash mob. It's another thing entirely to get Will Shortz, crossword editor of The New York Times, to devise a puzzle in the Sunday paper with an encoded proposal. But that's what Bill Gottlieb did when he asked Brooklyn Law School student Emily Mindel to marry him in 1998. Of course, anyone solving the puzzle that day would have unlocked the message, but only Mindel, a crossword junkie, knew for whom it was intended when she looked up at Gottlieb after solving 56 Across.

Some men are planners. Some have lots of resources at their disposal. And some are just plain old creative, like Ben, who proposed to his fiance, Darci, with an illustrated book that he wrote—and printed—in her honor. One evening, he casually invited her to their local used and rare books store. Up in the stacks, he pulled out the book and handed it to her. The picture book told the story of how they met, and on the last page, it read (you guessed it), Will you marry me?

Montreal pilot David Lang knew from the moment he met Athena that he wanted to marry her. Over the next six years, as the jet-setters traveled around the globe, they posed for pictures holding a single letter from the phrase We always knew. (Trust us, it makes sense in this video.) For the last W, David took Athena to a vantage point in their hometown. As they posed for a picture with the final letter, two conspirators held out a Will you marry me? banner behind them, a surprise Athena only realized when she looked at the image on David's digital camera.

Apparently, a dozen roses doesn’t cut it anymore. In China, Xiao Fan hired a team of tailors to construct a gown made entirely of fresh red roses—9,999 to be exact. (The number 9 signifies forever in Chinese tradition.) The dress was a gift for his girlfriend, Yin Mi, who was bedecked in the floral creation when Fan popped the question at Chime-Long Paradise, the amusement park where the two had met.

Lest a man worry that it's too much to pull off a jaw-dropping proposal on his own, he can hire proposal planners like Michele and Marvin Velazquez, founders of The Heart Bandits. Together, they have orchestrated many successful proposals, including the one between Abe and Lindsey, which began with a private helicopter ride over the mountains surrounding Las Vegas. Just as the couple approached the landing at Red Rock Country Club, where Champagne awaited, the bride-to-be was confronted with a huge sign that read, Lindsey, will you marry me?