A Surprise Wedding...Hidden Camera Proposal!
It was about a month ago when I got a call from Shelly Boelkens. She told me that she and her father, Rick Bingales, were planning a "surprise" for Glenda (Rick's wife or Shelly's mom, whichever way you want to look at it.) There plans were ambitious, a simple idea that would be complicated to carry out. It consisted of a surprise trip to Hawaii, a romantic re-proposal on Waikiki beach (with a new ring I might add), a vow reknewal ceremony at Ko'Olina secret cove, topped off with a romantic dinner at Roys.
Originally, Shelly had thought that a simple ceremony package was all that her parents needed, but I pitched her on the idea of taping Rick's re-proposal with a hidden camera. She was definitely interested. I told her that I could set Rick up with a wireless microphone and use a digital zoom to get a pretty tight shot from a quarter mile. I then told her that although I had never done anything like this before, it was very possible to pull this off flawlessly. A day later, Shelly got back to me and told me that everything was a go.
The plan called for a morning proposal on the beach in front of the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel. I dressed like surfer so I could blend in with the background. I arrived at the hotel a bit early, sat down, and scanned the lobby and breakfast line for him. Rick popped out five minutes later and his looks immediately surprised me. Rick was a lot younger that I had expected him to be. Maybe mid 40's or low 50's...I had expected someone in their 70's. His pony tell also threw me for a spin as well. This guy looked very hip.
We shook hands quickly and immediately started to get to know each other better in a very short time. I asked Rick jokingly, "Ever wear a wire before?" Rick laughed and told me no. I smiled, "Right answer" and wired him up. It took us a mere minute to hid the mic under his aloha shirt. From there we headed to the beach to scout for a great location. We decided that they would sit on the beach and propose there. The perfect location for me was on a jette that gave me the perfect angle. Rick then got his morning coffee, headed up to the room.
It took about 10 minutes for Rick and Glenda to get their breakfast and head to the beach. There was a slight problem: Glenda didn't' want to sit on the sand, so Rick chose a park bench nearby. I quickly moved my camera into position and started to tape everything, being careful that I would not miss anything. I was also rather nervous about being discovered, so I zoomed my camera in, locked in my tripod, and walked away from the camera, having complete faith that I would capture everything blindly.
We'll to sum it up, everything went according plan. Glenda was completely surprised and blown away. ( I'll be streaming this on our website very soon so be on the lookout.) CLICK HERE FOR THE STREAM! Their wedding was romantic and I was moved by their unscripted vows. They cried, Elias, our minister, cried...even I had to hold back tears. It's really nice to see a burning fire still exsist within a couple of 25 years. Their love was truly an amazing site and testimony to what love should be.
So a little bit about Rick and Glenda. You're going to like this. Rick works in construction in Las Vegas, which means he works on all of those cool buildings there. Gelnda is a professional eBay powerseller. Rick loves eBay as well and plans to join Glenda's powerselling adventures once he retires. The amazing thing is that, not only does eBay generate cash for them, but it also strengthens their relationship because they do it together.
The sad news about all of this is that Glenda actually got sick the night after all of this happened. I guess it was too much excitement for one day. Everything else though was completely perfect. I'm sure they'll be heading back to Hawaii in the many years to come.
Originally, Shelly had thought that a simple ceremony package was all that her parents needed, but I pitched her on the idea of taping Rick's re-proposal with a hidden camera. She was definitely interested. I told her that I could set Rick up with a wireless microphone and use a digital zoom to get a pretty tight shot from a quarter mile. I then told her that although I had never done anything like this before, it was very possible to pull this off flawlessly. A day later, Shelly got back to me and told me that everything was a go.
captures from their video of the surprise proposal
The plan called for a morning proposal on the beach in front of the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel. I dressed like surfer so I could blend in with the background. I arrived at the hotel a bit early, sat down, and scanned the lobby and breakfast line for him. Rick popped out five minutes later and his looks immediately surprised me. Rick was a lot younger that I had expected him to be. Maybe mid 40's or low 50's...I had expected someone in their 70's. His pony tell also threw me for a spin as well. This guy looked very hip.
We shook hands quickly and immediately started to get to know each other better in a very short time. I asked Rick jokingly, "Ever wear a wire before?" Rick laughed and told me no. I smiled, "Right answer" and wired him up. It took us a mere minute to hid the mic under his aloha shirt. From there we headed to the beach to scout for a great location. We decided that they would sit on the beach and propose there. The perfect location for me was on a jette that gave me the perfect angle. Rick then got his morning coffee, headed up to the room.
It took about 10 minutes for Rick and Glenda to get their breakfast and head to the beach. There was a slight problem: Glenda didn't' want to sit on the sand, so Rick chose a park bench nearby. I quickly moved my camera into position and started to tape everything, being careful that I would not miss anything. I was also rather nervous about being discovered, so I zoomed my camera in, locked in my tripod, and walked away from the camera, having complete faith that I would capture everything blindly.
We'll to sum it up, everything went according plan. Glenda was completely surprised and blown away. ( I'll be streaming this on our website very soon so be on the lookout.) CLICK HERE FOR THE STREAM! Their wedding was romantic and I was moved by their unscripted vows. They cried, Elias, our minister, cried...even I had to hold back tears. It's really nice to see a burning fire still exsist within a couple of 25 years. Their love was truly an amazing site and testimony to what love should be.
So a little bit about Rick and Glenda. You're going to like this. Rick works in construction in Las Vegas, which means he works on all of those cool buildings there. Gelnda is a professional eBay powerseller. Rick loves eBay as well and plans to join Glenda's powerselling adventures once he retires. The amazing thing is that, not only does eBay generate cash for them, but it also strengthens their relationship because they do it together.
The sad news about all of this is that Glenda actually got sick the night after all of this happened. I guess it was too much excitement for one day. Everything else though was completely perfect. I'm sure they'll be heading back to Hawaii in the many years to come.
posted by Steve Young @ 2:54 AM
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