Last night's Emmy's proposal was epic, but public proposals aren't for everyone

Forget the outfits and the winners, last night’s Emmys were dominated by just one thing, a live on-stage proposal, the first in the ceremony’s 70 year history.

Director Glenn Weiss had taken to the stage to accept his award for outstanding directing for a variety special when he took his girlfriend, Jan Svendsen, by surprise with a moving proposal.

During the emotional acceptance speech, he revealed that his mother had died two weeks previously, before saying he loved his girlfriend.

“You wonder why I don’t like to call you my girlfriend? Because I want to call you my wife,” he said.

Of course the room erupted into cheers, before Weiss added: “I didn’t ask yet!”

After she made it to the stage, he told her: “This is the ring my dad put on my mum’s finger, 67 years ago. And to my sisters and brothers I didn’t swipe it, dad knows I have it, OK?

“I want to put the ring that my mum wore on your finger in front of all these people and in front of my mum and your parents watching from above, will you marry me?”

She said yes!

But even if she’d have wanted to say no, would she have dared in front of all those people?

Glenn Weiss isn’t the only celeb who has gone in for the public proposal.

Earlier this year Idris Elba proposed popped the question to his girlfriend, Sabrina Dhowr, on stage at a screening of his new film ‘Yardie’.

But while social media swooned at his very public declaration of love, a spotlight hogging proposal is not the dream for everyone.

According to Tiffany Wright, Founder and Proposal Planner for The One Romance, the perfect question pop will vary from couple to couple, and while a PP (public proposal) may be one person’s ideal, it can be another’s nightmare.

“Proposing in public is always a risky choice unless you know being the centre of attention is something your partner wants,” Tiffany explains.

“It’s certainly not for everyone and if you partner is the shy type then being asked a life changing question in front of thousands of people might be completely the wrong move.”

Once, it was the norm for such intimate moments to remain just that. Now, thanks in part to us increasingly living our lives under a social media gaze, unless you actually shout your proposal live from your Insta stories, you may as well not bother.

But though a public declaration of love might seem like peak romance, for others it’s the ultimate passion pooper.

“YouTube and social media is defiantly to blame for the rise in public proposals,” explains Tiffany Wright. “People nowadays even snap chat mid proposal which takes all the romance away!”

See, we told you passion pooper.

Then there’s the motives behind a PP. No doubt for some public proposers, the intentions are genuinely well thought. ‘I love this person and I want the world to know it!’

But for others, could there not be a teensy part of them that thinks being asked in front of an audience is the best way to coerce a ‘yes’ answer?

Are you really likely to say no when you’re being asked in front of people already typing out their clapping hands and double heart congratulatory emojis?

Talk about piling on the pressure!

Cases in point: the Rio Olympics two years ago, where there seemed to be an odd mini trend of men popping the question to their girlfriends as they accepted their Olympic medals.

The divisive move split fans down the middle about whether it was the ultimate in true romance, or a kind of controlling hijack of the woman’s professional moment of triumph.

And what about who come to regret getting down on bended knee in the public gaze?

Take the example of the man who proposed to his girlfriend, an air stewardess on a China Eastern Airlines flight from Xi An to Yinchuan in May this year.

She said yes, but according to the Daily Star has since reportedly been fired for neglecting passenger safety during her mid-flight proposal. Oops.

Mishaps aside, for those who are determined to have their romantic moment in the spotlight, proposal planner Tiffany Wright has some suggestions of things to bear in mind.

“When people come to us wanting to propose to their partner one of the first questions we ask of whether they want a private or public proposal,” she says.

“Quite often we find that the guy proposing is the one who wants to to it publicly (the appeal of a public proposal is the fact is it YouTube worthy!) but when we dig deeper we find that his partner is the type who would rather an intimate one on one proposal over something too exhibitionist!”

“Recently we actually had a guy contact us who had already proposed to his girlfriend through another proposal planning company. They had convinced him to do it publicly – and his girlfriend had hated it. So he contacted us a few weeks later and said he wanted to do it again but this time in an intimate and private way. It was probably one of be most beautiful proposals we have very arranged because it was purely just about be two of them – no crowds, no cameras – just them.”

But for some newly engaged brides and grooms, a public proposal is the actual dream scenario. Certainly, a beaming Jan Svendsen seemed delighted with last night’s limelight stealing moment.

And social media was awash with praise for the perfectly timed love display.

“The man that’s gonna be with me, he’s gonna propose to me on the Emmys,” declared Saturday Night Live’s Leslie Jones on Twitter.

“If you don’t do that, then you ain’t serious about our love.”

For others, the ultimate in PDAs just isn’t the one. And for those spotlight shunners, the sentiment behind a PP isn’t enough to counter balance the embarrassment.

In which case, the privacy of your own home, a deserted beach, on top of a mountain [INSERT DREAM PROPOSAL LOCATION] is far more fitting.

For some, there’s a time and a place for a marriage proposal and an audience full of strangers or a social media feed full of followers just isn’t it.

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