Man proposes to girlfriend on cinema screen

Now Claudio Crolla has become the latest groom-to-be to pop the question to his girlfriend after spending hours making his own four-minute marriage trailer.

Mr Crolla had the audience at Cineworld in tears when he made the on-screen proposal to Emelia Colaluca on Sunday before the showing of romantic comedy I Give It A Year.

Fortunately for Claudio his beloved said yes, and the couple are now hoping the title of the movie doesn’t reflect on their own chances of being happy ever after.

The 21-year-old had asked cinema bosses if they would play a short video before the 3.10pm showing of the comedy, which stars Rose Byrne and Rafe Spall.

He said: “I was just thinking of a different way to propose and I thought it would be good to do it on screen.

“We come to the cinema quite a bit so I asked if it would be possible. The manager was really nice and said to send it.

“We were just sitting there when it came on the screen. At the end it said, ‘I have only one question to ask you’.

“I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. I was looking at her and she couldn’t stop crying. She said yes. It was really nice.”

The couple, who have been together for four years, met at a wedding in Italy where Emelia was related to the bride and Claudio to the groom. Claudio, who is originally from Bellevue, came up with the idea before Christmas and contacted cinema bosses in Glasgow, where Emelia lives.

He spent hours creating the video montage of photographs and videos to the backing track of Last Train Home from one of Emelia’s favourite films, PS I Love You.

The fish and chip shop worker sent the DVD to the cinema and then had to wait for the engagement ring to be ready before he could set a date.

Emelia, also 21, said she had no idea what he had been planning.

She said they had just settled into their seats when she saw their faces appear on the big screen in front of them.

“I was in complete shock, I didn’t know what was going on. I couldn’t believe that we were on the big screen.

“It started off with the date we first went out and then was pictures and  videos of us together.

“At the end he asked me to stand up and that was when he asked me to marry him.

“I couldn’t stop crying I was in such shock. It was completely unexpected.” Film fan Emelia said she was not put off by the I Give It A Year title and didn’t even stop to watch the picture. Now they hope to set a date next year and are looking at venues across the Capital.

She said: “I didn’t realise what we were going to see. Let’s hope it doesn’t reflect on us!”

The best ways to pop the question

1. Have a flair for the dramatic? Get in touch with the stage manager of an appropriately themed production and propose after the curtain call.

2. Take out a full-page ad in a newspaper you know your girlfriend reads daily.

3. Send your girlfriend on a treasure hunt. Start with a clue at home, then send her on a tour of your favourite spots all over town. When she gets to the last hint, the prize should be you on one knee.

4. Pay the divers at an aquarium to put on a proposal show inside a fish tank. Give them a handwritten sign that says, “Will you marry me?” to hold up against the glass.

5. Movie buffs? Ask your neighbourhood theatre to run an ad featuring your proposal and make sure you get there in time for the previews.