The day you get engaged is a big deal. But imagine having thousands of people see your proposal all over the world. It happened for one Michiana couple, since the groom- to- be's proposal was just so creative!
Craig Heatherly proposed to his girlfriend Linaya Hass at Davenport University's midnight madness. He's the Assistant Men's basketball coach there and she's the school's dance team coach. For the proposal he dressed up in the school's mascot and held a dance off against four student athletes and then Linaya. She had no idea he was inside the mascot suit. "I was shocked it was him under the panther outfit," said Linaya. But the surprises didn't stop there. "then to have him propose it was completely shocking," said Linaya.
The couple met over a year ago through mutual friends. Linaya said, "we met up just kinda like a blind date. We actually met at Silver Beach in St. Joe." And Craig said he started planning the proposal two months ago. He admits he wanted people to see it, "most importantly our family. That's kinda what I wanted. And obviously I wanted her to say yes," said Craig. And she loves how he did it, "it was just perfect. I couldn't imagine it any other way, with our friends and family there to see it." But neither though it would get thousands of hits on Youtube and be aired on Nationally on places like ESPN and "Inside Edition." "We're just two little small town people and for our proposal to be so huge and for so many people to be interested in our story it's kind of crazy, it's a little unreal," said Linaya.
Even though so many people have seen the proposal, Craig said it still felt intimate, "I was on the court. I was just focused no crowd affected me. It was just me and her at center court."
Craig is from Mishawaka and Linaya is from Cassopolis. They plan on having their wedding in the Michiana area in August 2013. To see videos of the proposal click here and here.
