For any lad, proposing to your girlfriend is a nerve wracking experience. No matter how long you've been together, tying the knot is a lifelong commitment and something she can simply say no to if she doesn't fancy it.
Which is why public proposals are so damn risky. How are you going to deal with her saying no in front of loads of people?
Shane O'Connor knows no fear. In fact, so sure was he that his teenage sweetheart would say yes, he set up an elaborate proposal at his local cinema to make sure of it.
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Shane met Mary when they were 16 and 15 respectively. At that age, there's not really much more you can do on a first date other than go to the cinema. So that's what they did. On the way home, Shane asked if she'd be his girlfriend and they've not looked back since.
And every year, on the 28th August, they go to the cinema together in Waterford City, Republic of Ireland, to celebrate their anniversary.
However, in 2015, Shane organised something slightly different. With Mary six months pregnant, and the godmother-to-be and best friend Naimh living in the UK, Shane decided to get her and her partner over. Mary thought this was the big surprise for their anniversary.
It wasn't.
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What Shane had actually been doing was emailing the manager of his local Omniplex cinema asking if he'd mind putting a video on in the cinema to help him propose.
After a few nervy days, the manager got back to him and said that'd be absolutely fine but he'd have to wait until after the movie, and that'd include all the credits. Does anyone wait til the end of the credits these days? I don't think so. And so the decision was made to do it in the adverts before the movie.
But it didn't go quite as swimmingly as you're expecting.
"The day before we were going to the cinema, Simon [the cinema manager] rang me to say there was a problem with the format of the video and he'd called in a lead technician to help," Shane told TheLADbible.
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Thankfully, the problem was fixed and the next day Shane, Mary, Naimh and her partner all trotted off to the pictures to see Paper Towns. However, 'Mary being Mary' (Shane's words not mine) wanted to watch Mission Impossible. So romantic.
"There was only a handful of people in there and I could see our family and friends down the side waiting. We were sitting at the back and Mary thought something was wrong because I was freaking out a little," Shane continued.
"I had a whole speech to say but when the video came on and she completely lost it, I got down on one knee, showed her the ring and could barely speak. But she knew what to say."
That could have gone horribly wrong but thankfully for Shane, it didn't.
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They didn't actually stay to watch the movie but when they left the cinema, the manager was stood there waiting with some flowers and a bottle of Prosecco.
And he let them come back the next night to actually watch the movie.
A bold move by Shane but it worked out in the end. And that, lads who are stupid enough to be thinking about marriage, is how to do a proposal.
RomanticLAD.
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Words by George Pavlou
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