Someday, Amy Frankel and Isaac Lamb’s children will ask Dad how he asked Mom to marry him. Dad will then chuckle, maybe plug in a thumb drive, or navigate to this link.
And their kids will immediately realize their Dad rocks.
Champagne and rose petals? Cliche. Diamond ring baked into a dessert? Please. Suddenly, the new standard for a creative marriage proposal includes secret rehearsals of 60+ people, borrowed marching band uniforms, and parents from afar linked in on Skype.
Oh, and a video that burns up the InterWebs.
And to think, he pondered not even videotaping it.
“A lot of people talked me out of that,” says Lamb. “They said, so much work went into this, we want a record of what happened!”
In an interview Saturday with KATU News, Lamb and Frankel stood in front of his parents southwest Portland home, on the street where this musical theater all played out last week.
Lamb says he started mulling over the idea of a lip-dub proposal back at Christmas-time, when he asked Frankel’s parents for permission to marry her.
“I knew when I got around to asking, it would have to be something incredible and special, because that’s how I feel about her,” he explains.
“I’ve always had sort of a flair for the dramatic. I’m a musical theater actor. I think in those terms a little bit.”
Both are involved in theater as members of the Third Rail Repertory Company. They have also watched and appreciated the entertainment of lip-dub videos, like this one, from the good people of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
“It’s such a special thing, it expresses a whole city’s heart, so I thought what a perfect way to communicate to her how much I love her,” explains Lamb.
He mapped out a plan and enlisted the help of their friend, Gina Johnson Morris to choreograph. She owns Radish Underground Clothing in downtown Portland, and used the entryway of her store during off hours for group rehearsals. She also made instructional videos recording herself doing the dance moves, wrote detailed instructions, and sent that homework out to the friends and family members participating so they could practice at home.
(Yes, she’s the foxy brunette in the red dress. And sorry guys, she goes home every night to that bearded guy swinging her around in the video, her husband.)
Was Lamb worried about having an audience for this highly personal moment? Nope. And he has the perfect reasoning for that.
“I really do believe marriages exist as a part of a community and I feel like you need that community, that support. That’s why you celebrate marriages with your community, so I thought it was very important for that be a part of the proposal,” Lamb says.
The group had one three-hour rehearsal last weekend, five days before the performance Wednesday. Lamb lied, telling Frankel he was somewhere else.
“I knew something was up. We’ve been talking about getting married, so I knew someday a proposal would happen,” Frankel says.
But the day of the proposal is when things got really weird.
Lamb sent Frankel to pick him up in downtown Portland at six o’clock at night, through traffic, only to text her once she arrived telling her he was at his parents home, and to go there instead.
“She was a little mad about that,” he says, laughing.
“He made me drive back through traffic, but they were doing that to keep me away from the setup to keep me safely far away from them all gathering.”
By the time she arrived, everyone was in place. They’d parked their cars elsewhere and were hiding in arranged spots. It was Lamb’s large and commanding brother who was in charge of getting Frankel to sit in the SUV. She put on headphones, which would serve as the soundtrack; the street, SW Marigold, became the stage.
“I did not expect 60 people to start dancing in front of me as the car moved down the street, it was amazing. It’s completely overwhelming,” says Frankel. “I’ve been in the theater profession, and this was hands down the most incredible thing I’ve ever experienced.”
As the car traveled slowly down the street, Frankel was wondering how she could ever top this, thinking there’s no way.
“Just wait till you have a baby,” joked Lamb. “You could birth a human being. I’ll make a lip dub video about it!”
She cracks up at that.
Lamb thought their friends and family would get a kick out of the video, and that it would be a great document to show their kids someday. He never expected it to go viral.
“What’s been most special about that is everybody posting about it is talking about how touched and moved they are by it. To know we contributed a little bit of love and positivity into the world that way — injected that into people’s lives — is really pretty special. That’s rare I think, something to be cherished. It means a lot to me.”
And at the heart of it all?
“As crazy and fun as this all has been, truly, the most thrilling thing is that she said yes and I get to spend the rest of my life with her. She makes every day brighter just because of who she is. She is a beautiful person and a beautiful soul,” he says, gazing at Frankel.
Yup. You’ve done it Isaac Lamb.
You’ve raised the bar even higher.
For all of us.
Turning to her future husband, Frankel says, “Life is so exciting with him.”
And it’s only just beginning…
Anna Canzano 