Man Reworks Disney’s ‘Sleeping Beauty’ to Propose to His High School Sweetheart
Written by SOURCE on January 11, 2020
Lee Loechler’s marriage proposal was straight out of a fairy tale.
The 29-year-old filmmaker made headlines this week after he posted a now-viral video of him popping the question. Filmed on Dec. 30, the footage shows Loechler and his high school sweetheart, Dr. Sthuthi David, watching a screening of her favorite Disney film, Sleeping Beauty. But this version had a much different, and perhaps happier, ending.
As you can see in the video below, the reworked version featured Loechler as Prince Phillip and David as Princess Aurora. David was clearly confused by the unfamiliar scene, which included the prince pulling out a ring and presenting it to the princess. We then see the animated Loechler appear to toss the ring box toward the audience, prompting the real-life Loechler to stand up and pretend to catch the box and get on one knee. The timing was perfect.
David was understandably in shock, especially after she realized the theater was filled with friends and family.
“I love you with my whole heart. Including all of its ventricles, atriums, valves,” Loechler said, as the animated characters remained on the screen, appearing to watch in suspense. “Sthuthi David, MD, will you live happily ever after with me?”
She said yes.
“I thought there was something wrong with the movie,” she told Loechler.
Moments later, the audience got to see what would’ve appeared on the screen had David said no, underscoring just how much time and effort he put into the proposal.
Loechler explained he had spent the last six months working on the elaborate proposal with illustrator Kayla Coombs.
“I went on Instagram and started following various Disney art hashtags, hoping to find an illustrator who was up to the task,” Loechler told Insider. “It wasn’t until I stumbled on Kayla’s work that the first inkling set in that ‘this might be possible after all.”
“I doctored an email blast from the theater (with their permission) and changed the movie it advertised to instead say ‘Sleeping Beauty,'” he continued. “I sent the doctored email to her mom, and asked her to send it to Sthuthi along with the message: ‘I saw the Coolidge is screening your favorite movie, so I got tickets for the whole family, and one for Lee if he can come. So not only did Sthuthi not suspect a thing, it was a proud moment when she called me a few days later and invited me to her own surprise proposal.”
The proposal video has garnered more than 3.5 million views since it was posted on YouTube Thursday. You can read some of the reactions to gesture below.
