With Kanye West, Jack White, Elton John, Vampire Weekend and a bunch of A-Grade Aussie acts on the lineup, last month’s Bonnarroo was already a music festival to remember. But for one particular couple and a bunch of attendees, it’ll be a weekend they’ll never forget.
Festival-goer John Ferreira was attending the June event with his girlfriend Catherine Mauro, after the pair fell in love with the US festival on their virgin Bonnaroo trip in 2013.
“It’s one of the few places on earth where you can just remain in the moment instead of worrying about work or bills,” Ferreira tells Huffington Post. “There is just an overall sense of freedom there, it’s just magical.”
So what better setting, thought Ferreira, to tie the knot with his music-loving partner? So Ferreira turned to his friends and the Reddit community six months ago, organising what would became the marriage proposal equivalent of Skrillex’s insane superjam.
We know what you wedding grinches are already thinking, what could be worse than a public proposal amongst a crowd of shirtless festival bros and floral headdress wearing hipsters? Right. But as a series of photos documenting the whole ‘viral hit in waiting’ situation shows, even the stoney hearts of the biggest romance cynics will likely warm a little at this Bonnaroo bash.
Here’s how it played out – take note gentlemen.
First Ferreira met up with his reddit cohorts with flowers and instructions on how to flash-mob his girlfriend.
Ferreira’s girlfriend was initially confused by the random act of kindness, distracted as a crowd of people gathered to hand her flowers.
Then a guitar-toting dude rocked up and began performing ‘Dead Sea’ by The Lumineers.
While she was bombarded, Cat’s internet-savvy boyfriend prepared to get down on one knee to pop the question. You can see the moment where she turns around to face him, completely unprepared.
She immediately bursts into tears before saying yes. Heartwarming victory assured.
“Thank you everyone who helped out. You made a dream come true and we will never forget you,” Ferreira says.
In case you wondering, he also made sure his epic proposal didn’t clash with any of the music action, popping the question early in the four-day extravaganza so nobody helping out had to miss out on any of the amazing lineup. You can watch the entire Bonnaroo proposal in real time in the video below.
