The 6 Most Impressively Nerdy Marriage Proposals

6

At a Doctor Who Exhibit

Doctor Who superfan Matt Smith took his equally Who-dazzled girlfriend to the Doctor Who Experience Exhibit in London, because where the fuck else would that be. Once they arrived, he slipped away from his tour group and donned the costume of the current Doctor (who coincidentally is played by an actor named Matt Smith) and pretended to be a part of the exhibit, which is to say he stood around looking British. When his girlfriend walked by, he took a knee and proposed, and she accepted (hopefully realizing that he was not an enchanted Time Lord mannequin).

Matthew Lloyd / Stringer / Getty
The Brits take their Doctor Who seriously.

5

With a Scott Pilgrim Scavenger Hunt

After spending much of their two years as a couple bonding over the Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series, Jennifer Forrest decided to take Dylan Paxton on a scavenger hunt through Toronto, Canada, visiting some of the memorable locations from the books (presumably before they watched the Scott Pilgrim movie and shattered the entire foundation of their relationship).

Once they reached the last location (the Casa Loma castle from Scott's fight against Lucas Lee), she gave him the final envelope containing a fully illustrated marriage proposal in the art style of the comics, including a ring box asking him if he wanted to "level up":

Jennifer Forrest
He only gets one stat boost? What kind of shitty leveling system is this?

4

With a Functioning Arc Reactor

Eddie Zarick built a custom re-creation of Tony Stark's arc reactor designed to put on a light show and dispense an engagement ring for his girlfriend. He took her out to the beach one night to reveal his creation, guaranteeing him all of the sex for the rest of forever. It is unclear whether he trimmed his facial hair into a douchey goatee.

Eddie Zarick via Lorena Gillispie Photography
Or whether Zarick Industries sold weapons to terrorists, too.

3

With a Customized iPhone App

Australian Sahba Idelkhani spent $1,500 commissioning an iPhone app to lead his girlfriend on a scavenger hunt through Sydney. After a trip of over 200 kilometers (124 miles in the correct system of measurement), the day ended in a penthouse suite, where the lucky lady had to cut open a teddy bear to reveal a marriage proposal Idelkhani had stitched inside three years earlier, which is a tactic normally described to a tape recorder behind a two-way mirror while a team of corpse-sniffing dogs is being assembled. Still, the app was a cool idea.

news.com.au

2

With a Movie Trailer Screened in a Local Theater

Matt Still decided to ambush his girlfriend with a fake movie trailer after sending her to the theater to see Fast Five (typically when your partner commands you to go see a Vin Diesel movie, the relationship is doomed). After the trailer plays for an excruciatingly long time in front of a baffled audience of strangers, Matt appears in person to pop the question. Luckily, she says yes, and for some reason he isn't assaulted by a room full of tattooed knuckles clenched in angry protest over the delay.

1

With a Customized Portal 2 Level

After seeing how much his girlfriend enjoyed playing Portal 2, Gary Hudston contacted Ellen McLain, the actress who provides the voice for the game's villain, GLaDOS, and asked if she would record some special dialogue, because apparently she was in the phone book. McLain agreed, and Hudston hired some people on a Portal modding site to build an entire Portal 2 level for him using McLain's custom dialogue. Hudston had his girlfriend play through the level on her birthday, which ended with GLaDOS delivering Hudston's proposal, because nothing says "I love you" like a homicidal AI.

YouTube
Presumably his original plan consisted of HAL 9000 reciting the lyrics to "Pictures of You."

When he's not tearing up at love stories like the manly man he is, Colin also writes for his college newspaper, braves the jungles of fan fiction, and thinks of the big questions, such as "Why is this your business?"