If you are wondering about the backstory to the Valentine's Day video posted yesterday,* here it is:
Months of planning culminate in flash-mob proposal for alumni Nam Tran, Trang Vu
By Kassy Cho, Oct. 5, 2011, Daily Bruin
Five minutes before his wedding proposal, UCLA alumnus Nam Tran worried that his plan would fall apart. His fiancee and fellow alumna Trang Vu, whom he had lured to UCLA on Sept. 24 to propose, suddenly disappeared, jeopardizing months of planning on Tran’s part. He found her just in time in Ackerman Student Union, looking at basketball jerseys. They left Ackerman to the sight of a flash mob of about 200 people, singing and dancing to one of the couple’s favorite songs, Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.” Many of the couple’s family and friends participated in the flash mob, including Vu’s high school and college friends, Tran said.
There were also around 100 more volunteer flash-mobbers who signed up through Flash Mob America. And there was Vu’s dad. “It was so funny seeing my dad trying to dance … in front of 200 people,” Vu said. “I just couldn’t stop laughing.” The video of the flash-mob proposal has since gone viral on YouTube, with more than 1 million views. The couple did not expect the video to gain as much attention as it did; they have yet to set a date for the wedding, Tran said.
Tran met Vu in 2003 in Ackerman 2412, when Vu attended a workshop on theater fundamentals taught by Tran. The two became friends but didn’t start dating until 2007. Tran said he wanted to propose to Vu for more than a year. He said he began planning the now-famous flash mob about five months ago. “We both like musicals and dancing, so I thought a flash mob fit really well,” Tran said.
Tran contacted Flash Mob America about his idea. The company, which has coordinated flash mobs for many corporations and TV shows, including “Modern Family” and “The Bachelor,” agreed to work with his budget after hearing his story. Flash Mob America then sent an instructional video to all friends and family members who had registered, Tran said. After that, it was just a matter of mobilizing them. The flash-mobbers attended a rehearsal the day of the proposal to learn the formation before showing up at UCLA, Tran said.
The hardest part of the planning was keeping it secret from Vu. When her son explained his intentions to her, Tran’s mother, Trang Tran, couldn’t believe what he was thinking. “I thought (a) proposal was just for the couple,” Trang Tran said. “But that’s how he is. He likes to involve family and friends in his happiness.”
As the song drew to a close, Tran got down on one knee and proposed to Vu. “It was about four or five months of planning just culminating into that one moment,” he said.
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*http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2022/02/our-valentines-day-ucla-linked.html.
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