VANCOUVER – As far as endearing viral videos of wedding proposals go, Spencer Stout’s is pretty high up there.
The Utah man staged a musical dance number to ask the love of his life to marry him in the oh-so-romantic location of a Salt Lake City Home Depot.
Amid the stacks of lumber and with more than 30 friends and family in tow, Stout surprised his boyfriend of two years, Dustin Reeser, with a flash mob dance number before popping the big question.
Reeser had no idea he was about to get engaged when he showed up at the construction supply store with his roommate on Aug. 30.
“When I first walked up to the partition … I assumed it was just partitioning the aisle off like they always do in Home Depot, when they get the forklift out,” Reeser said in a phone interview with Global News on Friday.
He then thought he’d walked into a commercial shoot – the video is quite well produced thanks to friends of the couple who work in film production.
Reeser said he tried to leave the area, but his roommate pulled him back and up onto a riser. Even then he still had no idea what was going on.
“I recently graduated from college and I was like ‘Is this some sort of graduation gift?,” he said. “It was cool, but a little weird.”
So, on comes the music (“Somebody Loves You” by Betty Who) and the choreography begins and the grin on Reeser’s face grows bigger by the second.
But it’s not even until almost three minutes into the video – which has racked up almost 1.7 million views since it was posted Wednesday – that you even see Stout on camera.
Dressed in a suit and tie, Stout lip-syncs his way into the aisle carrying a sign with the lyrics “If I am good to you … Won’t you be good to me.”
Reeser appears to be tearing up as Stout walks towards him and brings him down to eye-level to ask for his hand in marriage.
“Dustin, I love you more than anything in this entire world and I would be honoured if you would be by my side for the rest of my life,” Stout said, before getting on the traditional bended knee and asking, “Will you marry me?”
Cue the tears.
Of course, Reeser said yes.
Reeser said Stout approached the Home Depot about his plan and got approval from higher up in the corporation.
A hardware supply store may not come to mind as a romantic locale for most people. But, it does in their case.
Reeser is an interior designer and frequents the store regularly.
“We had met at a party and the next day we got together and hung out and it happened to be at Home Depot.”
Despite the connection, they probably won’t be getting married at the store.
Only 13 states, and the District of Columbia, allow same-sex marriage. Utah is not one of them.
“We’re thinking maybe California,” Reeser said. “It’s legal there now … and it’s also close for most of our family to come and attend.”
He said they’ve gotten a lot of congratulations and support from their loved ones and from the people that have helped the video go viral.
Reeser explained they just posted the video to YouTube to share with their friends and relatives. “We didn’t really do this to make a statement or anything,” he said.
But, he said the experience and the proposal went beyond anything he could have expected.
“Growing up and trying to figure this whole kinda thing out, you kinda don’t ever think it could possibly happen,” Reeser said. “And then suddenly that’s a possibility.”
Video verification: Global News went through various avenues to ensure the above video was original and not associated with any organization or program. We relied on reports in the L.A. Times and a local Fox News affiliate in Salt Lake City and finally contacted Dustin Reeser at his place of work in Park City, Utah. Global News also confirmed with Reeser that neither he nor Stout worked for Home Depot.
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