This is the second part on how I orchestrated a flash mob marriage proposal at New York Comic Con 2011. If you didn’t read part one, you can get up to speed here. So lets continue!

Step 7: Communications
It was important to stay in constant contact with everyone who signed up. I had around 60 ppl that signed up but I didn’t want to assume all 60 people were going to participate so I sent out several email blasts asking them to confirm their participation as well as inform them on rehearsals and any other related info. You also want to give them an easy way to opt-out if they don’t want to be on the email thread anymore so I would recommend using an email marketing application that allows you to add an “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the email. FanBridge is a nice free email marketing tool I highly recommend. Another helpful tactic I used whenever I was around Chriselle so I wouldn’t get caught was typing up most of these emails on my phone or iPad and then emailing it to myself so when I had the free time on my laptop. I would then just copy the text and paste it into the email program real quick and send it off to the flash mob group.

Step 8: Rehearsals
We only had three rehearsals with only one which I couldn’t attend (thanks to my cousin Lei and my friend Ben for running that rehearsal!). Everyone picked up the choreography really quick! Success! By the end of the first rehearsal we were able to do a few walk throughs of the entire flash mob. By the second rehearsal everyone had the choreo down pat and knew their cues. It was such an awesome feeling to start to see my vision come to life! The hardest part was finding a studio for the second rehearsal. Rooms fill up fast (in NYC), leaving you with only rooms with expensive rates to choose from. Best advice is to book at least a week in advance. I recommend PMT Dance studio. Big rooms for a cheap rate. Another thing that helped was having friends record the rehearsals and posting them to YouTube soon after for people to study. Make sure you make the videos private that only people with the link can view them. I also made sure I sent an email out after every rehearsal with some notes and changes I’d have.

Step 9: Ask for help
I’m usually not the type to ask for help. I tend do things on my own, my way and if theres something I don’t know how to do, I’ll try to learn how to do it. But for this I had to set my ego aside and have faith in my people. My good friend Ace, made the “I Do” and “I choose you!” signs, while my cousin Eric was in charge of guarding the Pokeball and securing the ‘red carpet’. My cousin Lei and good friend Ben took charge of rehearsal when I couldn’t make it.  There was even one guy, Sid, who wasn’t able to come to any rehearsals but still offered his services when I still needed someone at the very last minute to be John Cusak from ‘Say Anything’ which would officially start the flash mob (this scene wasn’t captured on any of the YouTube videos up right now but my friend Paul’s footage did capture it which we will be uploaded soon). And I can’t forget my close friends who helped distract her and split us up on the day of the big proposal. Also thanks to some of the volunteers/staff who made sure security knew about it. Everyone had my back the entire way and I couldn’t have done it without them.

Step 10: Acting normal and covering up
Very important or she will get suspicious or worse, find out! I almost blew it several times! Chriselle and I are pretty much inseperable so keeping it a secret was tough as Oct. 16th drew near. She noticed I was acting weird. I was texting more than usual, putting the passcode lock on my iPhone, “hanging out” with my cousin and friends without her. There was one situation when we were on the phone and after telling her what my plans were for the night (my lie: NYCC volunteer meeting) I put her on hold to talk to my cousin on the other line about rehearsal that same evening. When I told my cousin I was going to meet up with two of my friends before practice I lost connection with him which put me back on the phone with Chriselle (thanks AT&T!). She totally heard what I just said! So to cover it up I just said I was gonna meet up with them for a quick bite to eat before I go off to the NYCC meeting. And then later I met up with my friends and made sure we checked into a restaurant on Foursquare together so she would see that I wasn’t lying. So best advice is to act as normal as you can, work on your plan only when she’s not around, and know how to cover yourself up when she gets suspicious. I know it sucks lying. I totally hated myself for it, but I just kept telling myself that it’ll be worth it in the end and then I’d promise tell her all the times me and my friends deceived her. haha

Step 11: Synchronize
I wanted this to jump off at exactly 2:22pm, which is symbolic February 22nd marked our anniversary. Plus it was easy to remember. So I made everyone set several alarms on their phones. One for 2:15 to make sure they were in the area by then. And then one for 2:22pm. I gave people specific instructions to spread themselves out and not stand together in big groups.

Step 12: Expect the Unexpected
On the day of the event I ended up stressing like crazy. Things kept coming up that hindered me. She wasn’t really in the mood to go on Sunday because we were exhausted from being there everyday since Thursday. I wanted to arrive at the Con by 11:30, but we didn’t get there till 1pm. I couldn’t find my brother who had the engagement ring and my cousin who had the pokeball. The person that was supposed to play the music was on line getting food so with just a few minutes before 2:22pm I had to ask a volunteer to play the music. The list goes on! So my advice is to stay focused, have faith, be quick on your feet and always have a backup plan ready in case something goes wrong.

Step 13: Capture the moment
You wouldn’t want to go through all this trouble in creating a memorable moment and not get it on film! I’m blessed to have photography and video friends. So I asked Ponti and Ron (Spiderman mask in the video) to take photos, and got my friends Paul, Girard and a few others to take video. Girard also had his iPhone camera in front of Chriselle’s face the entire flash mob to capture her reaction. We’re working on a special edition video featuring rehearsals, pre-flash mob and post-flash mob footage so it will probably make you tear up even more. haha

And there you have it! My 13 step plan on proposing to your girlfriend at the New York Comic Con. You can use these steps and apply them to any other kind of flash mob though. As stressful as this was, it was so much fun that I wouldn’t mind helping other guys with carrying out proposal ideas. I might make it into a side gig so feel free to reach out to me for a free consultation! :P

Finally I just wanted to thank everyone who helped me in some way. You know who you are. Chriselle and I are so thankful for everyone’s love and kind greetings! Now onto the wedding planning!