May 15, 2012

Stokely Baksh
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The Baltimore Sun, Video
Albert Smith, Baltimore, flash mob, Lauren Hutcheson, love, Maryland, proposal

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Today’s proposals aren’t like the old days. So it should be no surprise that when a boy wants to propose to his best girl, he might want to pop the question with a little pizzazz. Enter Albert Smith and his flash mob marriage proposal.

Happy Together from Albert Smith on Vimeo.

A beautiful young girl walks down Thames Street in Fells Point, tricked into being on camera. As she walks, the Turtles’ classic love song, “Happy Together,” blares on a boom box behind her. People holding up homemade props pop out around the corner. Waiting at the end of the street is a handsome boy with a ring.

Sounds like a John Cusack movie being shot in Baltimore right?

Turns out it’s an elaborate flash mob wedding proposal staged by Albert Smith for his girlfriend, Lauren Hutcheson.

“I knew when I wanted to purpose to Lauren, I wanted to do something with music,” Smith said. “I knew it had to be bold, it had to be creative. So I tried to figure out how to do that and I settled on a flash mob proposal music video. It would make a really great story and she would be excited to retell the story for years to come.”

In November, Smith started coming up with ideas. He and Hutchenson had been dating for a little over two years and Smith knew she was “the one.” The flash mob proposal concept floated to the top above the rest of Smith’s ideas, and it took him another week to find the perfect song, The Turtles’ “Happy Together.”

“Believe it or not, I grew up listening to that song,” Smith said. “It’s one of my favorite songs. I grew up singing it and honestly any time that song came on I thought about singing it to my future wife some day.”

In late December, Smith recruited friend Jason Denney and they began working out details of a flash mob proposal. They invited friends and friends of friends to help with the “mob” aspect of it. There were 40-plus people who showed up, Smith said.

After two test runs, Smith was ready for his March proposal.

“I didn’t want it feel so rehearsed or so perfect, that it would feel stale” Smith said. “We wanted the fun and the chaos of the moment.”

Meanwhile, Hutcheson had no idea that her boyfriend was proposing. She had just finished band practice when Denney approached her about being in a video project filming people walking down the street.

“If anyone else had asked that, I wouldn’t think that’s real,” Hutcheson said. “But because it was Jason, I did it. He likes to do random stuff like that. But it was kinda odd that they asked me to walk first.”

At first she felt a little awkward, Hutcheson recalled, as the “filmmakers” followed her down the street with cameras.

“When the music started playing, it took me a good 15-20 seconds for it to set in … this was a love song. I know this song. I like this song,” said Hutcheson, pleasantly surprised that this would turn into a proposal, when friends popped out along the way with props.

Smith met her at the end of the street with a crowd.

“When I realized what was happening, I zoned in on Albert,” Hutcheson said. ” We had that moment. Time stood still, I know that’s cliché but it did. I think it was really nice of him to think those kinds of details through.”

Among the reactions to the couple’s proposal story, perhaps one of their most favorite comes from Smith’s dad.

“My dad actually wanted to fly up here to see it,” Smith said, “the first thing he said was ‘we didn’t do things like this when I was your age.’”

The couple plans to wed on Sept. 22nd.

Conversation starter: We want to hear from you. What are your favorite proposal stories?

This is the Hart of Dixie I’ve been waiting for.

The process didn’t happen overnight – my feelings were certainly frayed at times over the pace – but in the end “The Big Day” finally played Dixie’s best card: the love triangle.

Now the fun can begin.

Now we get to watch Zoe teeter between two different guys, and witness each of their personalities come shining through. Now we can watch Wade and George begin trying to one up each other trying to win Zoe’s heart. Now we can watch Zoe finally begin falling in love.

Plus, the love triangle finally frees up some characters in desperate need of finding themselves: Lavon and Lemon. Lavon is stuck in this limbo that he hasn’t gotten over yet, as much as he likes to believe he has, and Lemon is so infatuated with the idea of marriage and its spoils that she was rushing things for all the wrong reasons.

In fact, we finally saw Lemon open up a little bit tonight as she discussed her mistakes, albeit vaguely, with Anna Beth. Either way, any kind of emotional baby step for Lemon is better than nothing; she’s still one of the most annoying characters ever.

At least now Lemon finally realizes no matter how much work goes into something, when you hurt someone things take time to heal. No amount of rushing can fix that, and no amount of hiding behind status and grand ideas can fix it either.

George realized it, too, as he finally began to realize the feelings he’s having for Zoe, the feelings we’ve known he’s had since the series premiere. I have to give George a lot of credit for taking the hard way out, and not entering in to a wedding with Lemon when he wasn’t fully sure.

But let’s be honest, did anyone actually think George was going to go through with the ceremony? It seemed like just about everything was out to get him and make sure the wedding didn’t happen. It was raining, the roof was leaking and breaking apart, the firehouse dog ate the cake. Couple that with the doubts George has been having prior, and it was a blessing the wedding made it that far at all.

While we’re being honest I don’t think George (nor I) expected Lemon would punch him in the face for calling off the wedding. There was bound bound to be some bruised egos, but faces? That’s a new one.

Speaking of lips, after denying the chemistry they’ve had all season, Wade and Zoe finally decided to take things where they may go. And, boy, did they have a go at it, and it all culminated with George at Zoe’s door professing his love for her with Wade none the wiser.

Might I suggest Hart of Dixie use drama a little more often? I’ll all for comfort television, but this is the first night I’ve truly felt connected to the show and couldn’t wait to see where things were heading. It was absolutely fantastic.

No matter how things are resolved and where they go, it’s going to be a very fun second season.

Other thoughts:

• With the big commotion George has caused, it won’t take long before Brick gets wind of things, and I can only imagine how he’ll take it out on Zoe.
• The practice took a bit of a backseat in the second half of the season (as did the medical aspect of the show), and I would love to see some of that work its way back into the story.
• Can we have adorable baby goats on this show all the time?
• I’m hoping Wade’s bar becomes more than an idea next season.

What did you think, Dixie fans?

But wasn’t there a danger by making Quinn too great? I mean, a lot of fans might be bummed realizing that the woman who truly turned Barney around, even more so than Robin, is not going to end with him.
We wanted to tell the story of this undeniable chemistry between Barney and Robin. No matter what we do with them, there was always this unfinished business between them. They’re two people who are a bit broken, who haven’t figured out their love lives, and there always feels how there’s the potential to show how they could make it happen as they got older. You know, every time we’d hear from fans, “There was something missing about how Barney and Robin ended,” even though it was a complaint, we’d think, “That’s good. Because there’s more to come.” We’ve had it up our sleeves, this really cool chapter to tell.  This sets up the home stretch of what happens. This sets everything in motion. We’ve been teasing this future wedding day for so long.