Virtual reality has the power to bring people together in ways never before possible. Mike Rios decided that he was going to use the medium to bring him together with the person he loves most in the world, his girlfriend Maggie, by making it the centerpiece of his proposal.
Mike is a designer by trade and so creativity is flowing through his veins, “I wanted to do something big for her, and create something that wasn’t there.” Virtual reality was an obvious choice for this in Mike’s mind, and when he saw the Google Cardboard last summer, he knew he wanted to use it as part of his proposal.
Mike couldn’t have done it all alone, “I had the good fortune of having a lot for friends and family who helped me out film wise.” Mike even had a friend fly in to help direct the video, and had a whole lot of friends and family help with the flash mob dance. He also had the benefit of working with a number of partners on the project, including Google – who Mike says were instrumental to the success of the project. “They helped out a lot,” Mike says, “they were awesome!”
One of the best virtual moments of the proposal came shortly after Maggie puts on the headset. While in VR her dad walks up from out of view and trades places and jackets with Mike who was standing next to Maggie at the time. This all synched up with Maggie as she turned to her left and saw her Dad now standing next to her virtually, and when she took off the headset he was there for real; ready to ‘escort her down the aisle’ so to speak.
In total the proposal VR experience was comprised of 11 photos, which Mike controlled with a bluetooth clicker to advance the scene. It was a very simple setup, but that goes to show just how powerful this medium can be. The bride to be was obviously ecstatic (I mean why wouldn’t she be, if your boyfriend is going to spend months working on the proposal, he is most definitely a keeper) and Mike says she was “thrilled” by the use of VR.
While not the most traditional use of VR, we applaud the creativity and wish the happy couple a long and wonderful marriage.
