A gay man who lives in San Francisco
enlisted the help of co-workers at Google London to propose marriage.
“On April 22 2013, I invited Michael
to lunch at the Google office. He had no idea I would be asking him
to marry me. Or that hundreds of people were in on it,” said Shaun
Aukland, the American.
“We are a binational couple,
separated for the last two years, on and off, without the ability to
sponsor Michael for citizenship in the United States because of the
Defense of Marriage Act. I flew to London for one of our regular
trips and secretly to propose to Michael, in hopes that he'll be able
to finally join me permanently in the US after the Supreme Court
decision.”
“Five minutes before the proposal,
all of the TV screens in the cafe showed a timer countdown. At about
10 seconds, Michael remarked, 'Its really busy in here. Also, what
is that timer.'”
Diners stood up and began singing Bruno
Mars' Marry You. Afterward, Shaun got on bended knee and
proposed marriage.
“Three years ago I sent you a note
when we met that said, 'You're neat and I like you. Will you come to
San Francisco?'” Shaun told Michael. “And with an eye on what
we've been through and the many things we will go through, today,
with the help of every person that knew this was going to happen and
some pretty awesome colleagues, I want to say you're amazing and I
love you. Will you come to San Francisco and marry me?” (The video
is embedded on this page. Visit
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