Sunday, February 26, 2012 THE DALLAS POST PAGE 7 By AIMEE TJADER Star Tribune An unsuspecting woman cast her fishing line into a Twin Cities lake recently only to reel in a daz- zling diamond ring, which had been attached to the hook by pro- fessional divers underwater. An Ikea shopping trip for an- other couple ended with the fu- ture groom breaking into song and dance before getting on one knee. To stage his proposal, a self- proclaimed “thrill-seeker” enlist- ed the help of a pair of Minneapo- lis cops to fake his arrest for hom- icide in front of his future bride. Those stories may be rare, but more people are finding elabo- rate, sometimes extreme ways to propose marriage, wedding in- dustry experts say. For many couples, the marriage proposal has become part of the wedding build-up, complete with paparaz- zi-style photography to capture the moment, and often, an audi- ence. Some grooms-to-be are even hiring a “proposal planner” - for a fee of $2,000 to $10,000 - who all but promises that the bride-to-be will say yes. ‘'m only getting married once, so I wanted this to be an engagement to remember,” Ryan Calhoun, 28, said of his “shock- ing” arrest proposal, which he said had little romance but plen- ty of adrenaline. “It was a little risky, and it takes the right wom- an to do something like this.” From engagements that create public spectacles to private, jet- setting fairy tales, popping the question is not just becoming a bigger deal. It’s big business, too. Amy Lynch isn’t surprised. The Nashville author and re- searcher of generations Y and Z said couples are getting married later in life and typically living together before they're engaged, therefore demystifying the pro- posal process - to the point that they feel the need to turn it into an event. “Marriage isn’t the usual mark- er of adulthood that it used to be,” Lynch said. “It’s a bigger decision to make, so the proposal and the wedding have accorded more impor- tance.” Local jewelers say popping the question with a ring is no longer enough. Most women want to pick out their engagement rings, yet nearly 70 percent of women surveyed feel the “Surprise fac- tor” is essential to the perfect proposal, according to a joint sur- vey by theknot.com and Men’s Health magazine. Having been in the business since the 1970s, Rich Nordstrom, manager of Bergstrom Jewelers in St. Louis Park, said he’s pleased to see that guys are go- ing the distance to propose, be- cause it hasn’t always been that way. “This is something you're go- ing to remember forever and New brides By KRISTIN TILLOTSO Star Tribune Emma Rosen is soon to become Emma Sugerman. Rosen, 25, who works in health care marketing, will legally take the last name of her husband-to-be, medical stu- dent Noah Sugerman, when the two marry this summer. Vanessa Messersmith, 32-year- old owner of the hip clothing shop acklist Vintage, took the name er husband Jeremy, a musi- in, when they married six years ago. Both consider themselves to be feminists, and neither made the decision lightly. The majority of married wom- en in America have always chosen to legally assume their grooms’ last names. But at the end of the 20th century, more women re- tained their maiden names as a return to o way of retaining individual identi- ty. A widely-noted Harvard study of college-educated women found d custom 1975 kept their names. Those numbers sharply increased through the 1970s and 1980s be- fore declining in the 1990s to just that between 2 and 4 percent in below 20 percent in 2001. #i . by, ® Lucky Wedding Six Pence AA +0 ( k . ba a TR N g ; ( Je Jervecere eS ({ 7 17% bh § “a3 Je LLL] rey Mon, Tues, Wed & Sat. 10-6 © Thurs. 10-8:30 © Fri. 10-7 \...18 Chu J C@UNTRY CLUB [here are new rules of engagement reminisce about,” he said. “Since she already knows she’s getting a ring, there’s more pressure to surprise her so that moment is burned into her memory forev- er.” Meaghan Butzer, 31, of Min- neapolis, says her “fairy tale” en- gagement is the topic of conver- sation at the Edina, Minn., salon where she works. How he pro- posed is usually one of the first things inquiring minds want to know. Butzer’s fiance, an airline pilot, surprised her with a recent trip to Mackinac Island in Michigan via an open-cockpit airplane that was used as a military trainer in World War II. “He put so much thought and effort into it - it felt like a fairy tale,” Butzer said. “I wasn’t ex- pecting it at all. ... I wasn’t wear- ing clothes suited for oil to be dripping everywhere, but he'd packed my flight suit.” MCT PHOTO Jason Dailey and his wife Shelly, of Richfield, Minnesota have been married for three years. Jason, who spent months forming the perfect marriage proposal, gave her a painting of the very spot where they were standing, Buckingham Fountain in Chicago. The painting depicted a couple wearing the same clothes as Jason and Shelly and the man on a bended knee. 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