Lee Loechler wanted to make his proposal extra special. Loechler was hoping to give his high school sweetheart, Sthuthi David, something truly catered to her. As it turns out, her favorite film is the animated feature Sleeping Beauty. Loechler came up with a plan to alter the film so that she was a character in it. 

“It’s not every day you get to propose to your High School sweetheart. For the past six months, I’ve been working with an illustrator to animate my girlfriend and myself into her favorite movie, Sleeping Beauty. On 12/30/19 I popped the question in a theater filled with our friends and family,” he wrote on the Youtube caption. 

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The legendary proposal

The theater was filled with the couple’s family and friends but somehow David had no idea. Suddenly, at the end of the film Aurora has beautiful brown skin and the handsome prince looks a lot like Loechler. At first, David was confused but when the cartoon prince whipped out an engagement ring and Loechler stood up in the theater, what was really happening became completely clear. 

“It’s not every day you get to propose to your high school sweetheart. So I just wanna take my time, savor this moment,” Loechler says getting down on one knee. 

“Oh my god, these poor people,” David says tearfully. 

“They’re all in on it,” Loechler revealed. At this moment David turns around and realizes that the theater is filled with their loved ones. 

“I love you with my whole heart including all of its ventricles, atriums, valves — she’s a cardiologist. Sthuthi David, MD, will you live happily ever after with me?” Loechler says. 

“Yes,” David exclaims before joking. “I thought there was something wrong with the movie!” 

Loechler and David seem to share a wicked sense of humor. After the proposal airs, an alternative ending where David rejects his proposal closes out the movie. 

“The only thing better than seeing the smartest person I know completely dumbfounded was knowing we’d get to live happily ever after together. Enjoy,” Loechler wrote on Instagram. 

The artist behind the proposal.

Loechler worked with Australian scientist turned illustrator and animator Kayla Combs for six months to get the proposal just right. 

“SURPRISE!!! For the last 6 months I’ve been working with the incredible [Loechler] to execute the Sleeping Beauty proposal of his high school sweetheart’s dreams,” Combs wrote on Instagram. “After many late nights sketching and coloring I might be even more excited that [David] said yes than he is! Lee, thank you so much for trusting me with your vision. It’s truly been an honor to be a part of this. Wishing you both the happiest of Happy Ever Afters.”

Combs worked as an analytical chemist for two years before pursuing her dream of becoming an illustrator. Now she creates cartoon characters featuring a diverse array of women and is donating 100 percent of profits from her children’s book What Can We Be? to raise money for the Australian Bushfire Disaster Appeal to support Australian firefighters. 

The reaction

The video which has garnered almost 3 million views on YouTube, and has received widespread media coverage, since yesterday is certainly a hit. People simply had no choice but to stan such a thoughtful proposal. 

“I have no clue to logistical magic that had to be done to animate yourself & your girlfriend into sleeping beauty, rent out a movie theatre, & get all your family & friends into the theatre w/o her noticing anyone),” one Twitter user wrote.

Some men on Reddit felt like the video made their proposals pale in comparison to the amount of effort that went into Loechler’s.

“I thought I was smooth with my bridge and lilyponds on a black sand beach in Hawaii….. this guy just went and rewrote theatrical history, broke the fourth wall, made a 4th-dimensional joke and timed it perfectly, made a highbrow doctor’s joke, conspired with the internet, and filled a theater with family and friends,” one Reddit user said.  

Loechler has set a very high bar for himself, but it is pretty clear he believes David deserves nothing but the best.