Proposals have become somewhat of an art form in recent years. After all, it is a very special occasion that, for most of us, requires a unique and meaningful way of marking.
Despite it being a personal experience—and by no means a call for competition—some of the more unique proposals tend to reach a wider audience these days, one that is beyond just the two people involved. It has slowly transformed into a celebration of love for everyone to enjoy.
Caleb spent a week hiding and building this engagement sign to be used to propose to his girlfriend Kelly
Image credits: Travis Leanna
A lad by the name of Caleb Michiels recently decided to pop the question to his girlfriend Kelly Weldon. For the occasion, he decided to build a large and bright message sign using Christmas lights, which would spell out “Kelly Will You Marry Me?”
Bored Panda reached out to the engaged couple, who have been together for over eight and a half years now. Their journey began when they started pole vaulting together during their freshman year of high school. They now live together with their two lovely dogs Denali and Delta.
As Caleb and Kelly had been going to the Holiday Fantasy of Lights festival for years now, his idea was to plop the sign at the light show and to propose to her at it. He worked closely with the festival’s electric group to make the proposal a reality.
Holiday Fantasy of Lights filmed the engagement and posted it on their Facebook page (warning: loud!)
Video Credits: Holiday Fantasy of Lights
Holiday Fantasy of Lights is a free annual light festival, this year featuring over 50 lit displays. It is a drive-through event held at Olin Park in Madison, Wisconsin. It is said to be one of Madison’s most favorite holiday traditions.
"Caleb and I had talked about getting engaged soon, but he is a sealed vault and gave me NO details about when it was going to happen," explained Kelly. "I, on the other hand, am very nosy and attempted to get details from him. After several attempts, I gave up and realized I was just going to have to wait."
Caleb spent countless hours in his friend’s basement constructing the sign—so much, in fact, that it proved pretty difficult for him to come up with believable excuses without blowing his cover.
Apparently Caleb is known for expressing his love in grandiose ways as this isn't his first gigantic sign
Image Credits: Kelly Weldon
Kelly explained that this isn't the first time Caleb expressed his love using large signs: "I had no idea how he was going to do it, but this honestly doesn't surprise me. Caleb is pretty romantic and had a history of grand gestures throughout high school. For example, he once mowed a giant 'Homecoming?' sign into the side of a hill and took me to a park to look out over it to ask me to homecoming. He knew that he wanted to top this for our engagement, however."
Holiday Fantasy in Lights has released a video of the moment of proposal, during which you can hear that Kelly was so surprised that she didn’t even notice the sign right until the very end. Regardless, she said ‘yes’, making for yet another happily-ever-after love story.
Someone suggested people in the area with girlfriends named Kelly would take the opportunity to do the same
Image credits: Travis Leanna
Travis Leanna happened to pass by Caleb’s light proposal. He took a picture and posted it on his Facebook page together with a joke announcement encouraging people to take the opportunity and to use Caleb’s masterpiece to propose to their girlfriends, if their name happens to be Kelly: “now is the time to piggyback off of someone else’s hard work and preparation.”
Unfortunately, the sign has since then been taken down. "We actually had to take the lights down already," Kelly told Bored Panda. "I wanted to put them up on the side of our house as a joke, but Caleb wouldn't let me!" Well, considering that people dating other Kellies may end up coming to their sign at their home for a free proposal, that may or may not be a good idea.
Here's how people reacted to the "public service announcement"...
