This proposal is quite discreet by today’s standards. (Comstock/Thinkstock)

Holly has been proposed to. Now that I think about it, so have I, but it never seemed like a real thing and didn’t stick. Neither of these events involved flash mobs, viral videos or on-camera tears, though. Maybe that’s why we don’t entirely get this sort of weird public proposal arms race going on. So that’s what we talked about today. And here’s what we talked about:

• An anecdote about when Holly got married
• An anecdote about multiple Jumbotron engagements I witnessed at a hockey game
• The girl who is proposed to at a basketball game and gets booed
• The woman in the food court who rejects the guy, and whether that is fake
• We found no examples of women proposing to men in giant flash mobs. Or other women.
• That $30,000 wedding cost number and whether it is making men want to match that with their proposals
• Some other theories about money, feelings and culture as they relate to very public proposals
• The guy who faked his own death and then proposed
• A CNN article that notes how a woman’s live becomes a public spectacle after becoming engaged
• Some public proposals that have been more about  an expression of love than a giant spectacle, including an Adult Swim bump and during karaoke on the nerd boat
• The one on “Ellen” where the woman runs away
• That proposal/wedding from “Mobbed”
• The display/significance curve
• A return to the theme that in the stereotypical wedding planning that the proposal is the groom’s “only chance” to have a say
• Bridezooky
• Mailed wedding proposals
• A couple of big viral wedding proposals I like in spite of their bigness
• The flash mob proposal with all the flowers
• My absolute favorite one, Isaac’s Live Lip-dub Proposal (h/t to Pop Culture Happy Hour)
• Starting price for a flash mob proposal: $2k
• Some ruminating on relationships and the chemistry of love
• Some ruminating on the legal protections of marriage
• David Pogue’s movie trailer proposal
• Introverts and surprises
• Holly’s story of a marathon finish line proposal (There are many, it turns out! And we can’t find the one we think it is.)
• Some talk about show notes. Which were late this time.
• The Delta flight proposal
• Disney proposal packages
• Listener mail! From Maggie on bronies.
• How Marriage Works
• Episode link: Train Wrecks of the Proposal Variety

My research (that isn’t also Holly’s):

• Hitched: Your Elaborately Planned Public Marriage Proposal is Awkward for Everyone
• Love in the Age of Digital Reproduction
• Public Marriage Proposals Gone Wrong: The 11 Biggest Fails (VIDEO)
• The Pressure of the Marriage Proposal
• Vannini, Phillip. “Will You Marry Me?: Spectacle and Consumption in the Ritual of Marriage Proposals.”
• What’s with public marriage proposals?
• Why do some people propose in public?
• ‘Will you marry me?’ Please RT: tips for getting in on the public proposal craze

Holly’s research:

• Why I proposed marriage in public
• Five of the worst public marriage proposals
• Why Public Proposals Are Kind Of Wrong
• That’s It: We’re Officially Over Public Marriage Proposals
• Before Proposing to Girlfriend, Man Fakes His Own Death to Show Her How Meaningless Life Would Be Without Him
• Shock and Aww!
• The Public Wedding Proposal: How Much Is Too Much?
• The Case Against Performance Marriage Proposals

You can follow PopStuff on Twitter at @PopStuffHSW, and you can keep up with us on the official PopStuff Facebook page.