The Frenchman who helps make women cry.
I read where a 35-year-old French entrepreneur, Nicolas Garreau, has started a business dedicated to making women cry.
But the tears are tears of joy. Or so he assures us.
From a recent press release:
"As Valentine's Day approaches, more and more lovers from all over the World will propose to their sweethearts in Paris. It is precisely to help these men to propose in a creative way that Nicolas Garreau founded ApoteoSurprise, an event planning agency specialized in setting up elaborate marriage proposals in the City of Love."
Mr. Garreau and his company offer 30 "all-inclusive proposal packages," including these possibilities:
"A Cinderella's carriage appearing at Place Vendôme with a magical glass slipper, a messenger dove delivering a love letter, a shower of 1000 red roses fully covering a yacht during a VIP dinner-cruise on Seine river, a limousine tour with a personalized message appearing on a giant LED screen at the Eiffel Tower, or even a private aerial patrol drawing a white smoke heart in the Parisian sky."
The company press release notes that, "according to a recent survey, it appears that nearly 1 in 3 man asks his girlfriend to marry him during an intimate moment in bed." (I believe they meant to write, "1 in 3 men" but honestly, I'm not sure exactly how these things work in France.)
The press release continues:
"In the discharge of mankind, it appears, however, that another stunning study shows that, for most of men, making a marriage proposal is 'scarier than a job interview, a jump parachute, or even than swimming with sharks!' "
Which might help explain why so many marriage proposals happen in bed, where men generally feel somewhat safe from shark attacks.
Mr. Garreau appears to have put considerable thought into this situation, and has come to the conclusion that women prefer to receive a marriage proposal while riding in a Cinderella's carriage, or while viewing a message displayed on an LED screen near the Eiffel Tower. His website features numerous videos of women crying as they watch (for example) heart-shaped fireworks exploding in the garden of a French castle (package price, about US$6,800).
As I recall, my own marriage proposal experience was rather improvisational, and very modest in terms of my financial investment. I proposed to my wife Darlene (now, my ex-wife) while we were shopping for frozen strawberries at a supermarket in Omaha. Darlene accidentally dropped one of the rectangular cans onto the linoleum and a mess of half-frozen strawberries came squirting out.
I fell quickly to one knee in a futile attempt to catch the falling can... just as Darlene burst into tears.
A once in a lifetime situation. I was already on bended knee... Darlene was already crying... What could I do, but ask her to marry me?
Her tearful response? "Yes, you stupid man, of course I will marry you. Now get up off the dirty floor."
did have to pay for the spilled can of frozen strawberries, which as I recall was sale-priced at 49 cents.
If only it had all happened in Paris, the City of Love...
Maybe I wouldn't have had to pay for the strawberries.
Louis Cannon
