Elaborate marriage proposals and stunts have their
unique seasons. Doubt it? Take a trip down YouTube, Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram and other social media platforms and you will struggle to
catch your breath from the various emotional and often over-the-top
marriage proposals littered around the cyberspace.
In 2014 alone, facebook announced
that over 2.6 million people in the U.S. changed their status to
‘engaged’ and the most popular months with such records, were November
and December.
In an interesting conversation I had with a friend who just got
engaged, I noticed she was disappointed because her fiancé failed to
pull a romantic stunt.
According to her, he didn’t pop the question on
her birthday, Valentine’s Day or any other special day, like she
expected. Instead, he picked a random day in a random month to ask her
to marry him. To worsen the situation, he just “stood in the middle of
his sitting room” and popped the question. Just like that. No surprise
party and no one to capture the moment on camera and share it in
real-time on Facebook and Instagram.
Her marriage proposal had been so “bleh” she came up with a fictional
and very romantic marriage proposal script to share with family and
friends. I could see the disappointment on her face, especially as she
compared her experience with that of one of her friends who got proposed
to on Valentine’s Day in Dubai, specifically in the famous Burj Al Arab.
Indeed, the feeling of pure shock, excitement, and acceptance that goes
with a marriage proposal is better experienced than spoken of. It’s
amazing the length men go to seal a love-deal, with a heartthrob. From
gathering friends and family, writing out a speech and shopping for the
right flowers, to planning a surprise pitch (if he chooses), sieving
through the pages of the internet for the perfect ring, and digging up
courage from the deepest depth. The question of, ‘what if she says no’,
somehow pops up a few times and then more dose of courage is swallowed
to quench the thought. The proposal season is one of the many wonders of
the world.
Interestingly, the season of proposals is slowly ebbing away. Some
statistics as seen from the maps below again confirms that proposals are
incredibly rampant around Valentine, Christmas and New Year holidays.
It’s no wonder the proposal tweets and pictures kept pouring in during
the holidays and girlfriends waited patiently with polished nails and
glittering smiles for their boyfriends to pop the question. Could it be
that we won’t experience such wave until the holidays come back around?
The society is an ever dynamic space and cultures change from one
sphere to the other. Social media, however, is constantly helping to
predict the variables and choose which wave to ride on. The culture,
trends and heartbeat of a people can be measured with social media just
as the proposal season has successfully been calibrated.
Not only is this a map for lovers to plan with, the stakeholders,
brands and vendors easily know when to expect a spike in sales. Those
peak periods serves as an opportunity for brands to reach their
potential customers; from jewellery sellers, event management companies
to fashion designers. During the proposal season, engagement ring
vendors can be sure to cash in a lot more than usual. Publicity plans
can be pushed up a notch to harvest more clients within this window
period. Wedding planners can tap into the fun and expect a flood of
contracts soon after.
Judging from the rates at which proposal pictures get shared on
social media and love-bug exclamations spread across the platforms, it’s
not surprising that other seemingly innocent men get influenced to go
with the trend and just propose already. Social media has an undeniable
influence on the lifestyle of the young folks especially. Or should we
assume this influence comes from technology in general?
While the proposal season may have ended, love hasn’t. So any moment,
a man will realize his life isn’t complete without that special lady
and that it’s time to make that huge commitment. And then the world
around them will celebrate and support them irrespective of what
statistics may predict. As we await the next surge in the proposal
season, let love shine bright, as all connected parties remain expectant
behind the scenes.
What do you think about sharing marriage proposals on social media? I’ll love to hear your thoughts.