DragonCon 2014 Part 1: The Proposal

Photo by Awesoman

This, I am hoping, will turn out to be one of my more elaborate blogs yet. This past weekend I was finally able to make it back to DragonCon in Atlanta, Georgia. This was only my second time visiting DragonCon, with the last time being back in 2012 after a promise of a life altering experience from some friends. Perhaps they just needed more people to fill up the room that would set them back $1000, but regardless, with only a week to prepare a costume that year, this year would prove to be dramatically different. This year's con was set in stone over a year ago when my friend and I booked our hotel rooms and my girlfriend and I purchased our tickets well in advance to keep the cost down. With plans in the works to create an elaborate Steampunk Darunia costume from the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and managing to secretly plan a memorable proposal (which I will talk more about a little later,) it seemed like nothing could stop this year's convention from being nothing short of epic.

 

Photo by David Ngo

I am going to break this blog up into 3 parts. First I will talk about my proposal to my now (SPOILER ALERT: She said Yes!) Fiance. Then about the hotel incident and cosplay antics, and finally for those of you interested in my construction of my costume, I will add that in last since it is pretty photo heavy. Look for those in parts 2 and 3

With so much to talk about, where do we begin? Follow me way back about a year ago, and a group of my friends decided they wanted to go as characters from Zelda. Steampunk was the choice, don't ask me how it came about, all I knew was that we had a Link, Zelda, and a Gannon. As much as I loved Ocarina of Time, it was a thorough, but quick decision to attempt and make a Darunia costume. I had always loved the rock eaters that lived on Death Mountain, and after a quick google search for previous cosplayers who had attempted such a hefty costume, I thought now would be a great opportunity to bring the character back into the spotlight. It wasn't until only a month before the con that they released Darunia as a new character for Hyrule Warriors, who coincidentally uses the megaton hammer as well. My other friend decided on making an Aghanim costume and I was able to talk my girlfriend into attempting a Saria costume that she might be able to hang out with me as one of the sages in case we were to wander around the con by ourselves. After a few attempts at other ideas, she finally agreed.

My fellow proposal helpers

The Hyatt hotel was one of the later available bookings, and knowing that my costume would have been one that I couldn't take outside, it seemed like the best idea to grab up one of the central hotels that was connected to the Marriott hub. Six months before the con and my friend was able to grab a reservation online for a king size bed, and I was able to grab a two queen size bedroom right next door. Everything was in order, the deposits were paid, all that was left was to contemplate my costume and after eventually realizing that after 2 1/2 years of dating, I was wanting to ask the love of my life to marry me. Now, at my first year visiting DragonCon back in 2012, I randomly stumbled upon the Hilton Hotel balcony which housed the giant Marvel and DC photo shoots. During the Marvel shoot, there was a couple who were married there, right at the base of the stairs. That always stuck with me and I had always thought it was a great view of the city in the background. Perhaps it was way back then that I had already made up my mind that this was the location for my eventual proposal. However finding out how to set something like this up was far from me. Originally I tried contacting DragonCon directly, but they weren't much help, other than telling me that most of their guests did their own thing and got pretty inventive. My second attempt was hitting the message boards with requests if anyone knew anyone who might know the Dr. Strange with the mega phone that I had seen leading the photo shoot, two years prior. Luckily, after bouncing around 2 message boards, I found the guy I was looking for. His name was Allen, and he was in fact the man who had been hosting the Giant Marvel and DC photo shoots for the previous 6 years, this being his 7th and final year. I sent him a message and within hours I got a delightful response back saying he would be more than happy to help with my special event. Within days we were chatting over the phone with ideas of how to make things work so that my girlfriend would have no clue as to what was about to happen to her. I recall, our original idea was that we would make our way to one side of the photo shoot and when Allen would call for volunteers, he would pick us "randomly" from the crowd, and then I would pop the question. This was the idea we were going to roll with, but since the Guardians of the Galaxy movie had just recently come out and Thanos was a major player, I decided to ask Allen about a way to incorporate Thanos into our scenario, and somehow make it seem as if the wedding ring was in fact a 7th infinity stone that he would present to us. The finalized version was that, after Allen had found someone coming in a Thanos costume, that he would call us up, again as a randomly as possible, and Thanos would present the 7th infinity gem that represented "Forever" to us and then I would propose. Of course, there was another complication that came up along the way; A week before the event the Hilton sold some property to a local college and there was going to be construction along the stairway. This seriously limited our ability to make this seem as random as possible and so we had to devise a new way to conceal what was about to happen. Allen came up with the plan that, I would introduce us to him early on in the shoot and explain that he was doing a great job, in which he would act as if we were the first people to say that to him all day. This would lead in to him asking if we would be interested in helping out as civilians in the final photo shoot in a little while, and then we would be asked to stand in a premium photographer spot taking pictures until we would be needed. If only things could be so easy, right? Well, there was a slight miscommunication on my part and I assumed Saturday was the day of the proposal. I knew I had to get my girlfriend to the stairs by 3:45 on Saturday, but moments before trying to rush there, we got separated as she was attempting to take photos and my group and I were rushing hastily through the hotels. Eventually we found her and we made our way to the shoot, which turned out to be the DC photo shoot. We stood around taking pictures, and I eventually made my move and approached Allen. I introduced us to him and said he was doing a great job, and it wasn't until this moment that I realized the Marvel shoot wasn't for another 24 hrs. Allen asked if we were coming back tomorrow and asked us if we could be civilians in the shoot. My girlfriend and I casually accepted and I was relieved that our cover hadn't been blown. I felt like an idiot, but at least I wasn't late. I texted Allen and smoothed things over. In the end this worked out better than expected, because not only did we not have to fight our way through the larger crowd of Marvel characters to "meet" Allen, but my girlfriend could pick out something nice to wear, that she would want to be seen wearing in photos. Also, my friend Spencer was able to slip Allen the ring without her noticing.

This is Allen

The following day we were much less rushed, we knew exactly when we were needing to be at the shoot, and our friends were all able to set their schedules accordingly. The only thing I had not planned on was wearing black and a Batman t-shirt, because I had already worn my white shirt with my Captain America t-shirt the day before, I now had no choice but to wear clean, sweat-less, clothes. Needless to say my shirt remained buttoned to avoid being mobbed by Marvel characters. One by one, the different Marvel characters took their positions on the stairs, and eventually I checked with one of the security guards and mentioned my name to him, which promptly allowed my group to make their way to the side area of the photographers, (name dropping gets you everywhere.) Ross Lincoln, author from TheEscapistMagazine.com had tagged along with my group because he had previously seen my Darunia costume and wanted to interview me about how I had made it. I had also mentioned that I was getting engaged and he wanted to use that opportunity to spruce up the article he was writing. I was more than happy to oblige him, and was even able to get him into our VIP positions for the photo shoot. I look forward to posting more about that article a little later. Until then, I hope you check out Ross' work in the mean time.

 

George Perez

Allen with James Gunn

Once we were in place, George Perez made an appearance at the shoot, and even "Guardians of the Galaxy" director, James Gunn eventually showed up and had a Groot dance off with everyone at the photo shoot. When Allen came running by, he mentioned to me and my girlfriend that we would be next. We prepared ourselves and after Thanos was in position, my friends and I made our way to the front of the cameras. Allen mentioned that he was giving the infinity stone to Thanos, and then asked Thanos to present the stone to me. Taking the ring from Thanos was a much harder task than I had anticipated (but not in a bad way.) I reached for the ring and he placed his other hand on top of mine and he told me to take the ring and do great things with it. By this time I was fighting back the tears. Of course my girlfriend couldn't see my face and promptly shouted "Don't do it!," not knowing what was about to happen to her. I took the ring and grasped it in one hand, and approached my girlfriend and took her other hand in mine. I looked down at the ring and it was at this point that she was speechless. I saw the tears begin to stream down behind her glasses and knew that I had managed to catch her off guard. I revealed the ring to everyone, which I recall many of the crowd members begin to make sounds of "Aww." What I began to say to my love went something like this...

"I have a confession to make... it wasn't by chance that we are up here today, and it wasn't by chance that we fell in love with one another. I made you a promise over two years ago, and all I asked of you was to wait for me. Today I am fulfilling that promise and in its place I am giving you a vow. I have a very important question to ask you."

I proceeded to get down on one knee.

Photo by Marvel.com

"Mandilyn Suzanne Horton, will you marry me?"

At that point tears were really coming down and she hastily replied "...Yes!"

 Photo by Awesoman

 I immediately got to my feet and hugged her and we kissed. I placed the ring on her finger and it hasn't come off yet. We managed to get some really great photos with Thanos in the middle and while we were standing there, the crowd behind us began to sway back and forth, singing "Hooked on a Feeling." The whole moment couldn't have been any more out of this world.

 Photo by Awesoman

Photo by Awesoman

I would like to take this moment to thank everyone involved in the proposal. It wouldn't have been as awesome without you all. If you have any photos of the event, please contact me here or at C.Kouse@yahoo.com and I will be sure to give you credit for them.

Thanks Everyone!