Marriage proposal video by man who secretly filmed build-up goes viral

The bride-to-be thought he was just filming for Snapchat

A man’s heart-warming film documenting his proposal to his girlfriend has gone viral – after he secretly filmed the build-up to the big day.

Andy Gates, 28, had been planning on proposing to Elivia Frixou, 27, for six months and captured the moment the final few days of build-up - and the moment itself - on camera.

And after posting the amateur film on Facebook, the clip swiftly went viral and has even seen the couple, from Melbourne, Derbyshire, getting recognised in public.

(SWNS (SWNS)

The video starts by showing Andy a day before their flight to Portofino, Italy, getting himself ready for the trip.

We see the couple in the airport and on the flight, with marketing assistant Elivia sleeping on Andy’s shoulder.

Despite how much Andy was filming, Elivia never suspected anything, thinking he was just posting Snapchats and taking pictures.

On the second day of the romantic break, the couple went out for dinner and, while their favourite song was playing, Andy got down on one knee and popped the question.

(Andy Gates / SWNS.com (Andy Gates / SWNS.com)

As the couple embraced, the restaurant burst into applause.

Andy and Elivia originally met on Tinder four-and-a-half years ago before Andy popped the question on March 24.

Andy, a manufacturers’ agent, said: “I’d never seen anybody put something like this on social media so I thought I might as well capture the moment.

“We can both look back at it and reminisce and show other people how I did it and how we went to such a beautiful place.

“I’m quite proactive on Snapchat, so it wasn’t really a shock the fact I had my camera out and was filming all the time with Elivia, she thought I was taking Snapchats.

“All I did was I took the videos, put them in a hidden file and when I had a bit of spare time uploaded it to movie-making software and edited it as I went along.

“When it came to the night, all I had to do was get the restaurant manager to film the big moment and it was all complete. It all went smoothly and perfectly to plan.

“I had planned it to be between the starter and main course, to drop the lights and play Ed Sheeran, ‘Perfect’, which is our favourite song.”

(Andy Gates / SWNS.com (Andy Gates / SWNS.com)

And Andy says the response has been “phenomenal”, adding that people have said they’ve been moved both to tears and laughter.

“It gone bonkers, we’ve been stopped in the streets,” he said. “Elivia was in Sainsbury’s last week and someone said, ‘are you the girl that has been proposed to?’”

The groom-to-be also revealed how he’d been so concerned about getting the ring through security that he made sure he went through about five people ahead of Elivia.

(SWNS (SWNS)

“When I put my bag on the tray I said to security, ‘there’s a ring in there, look after me’ and he wished me good luck on the way through and I got through without bleeping.”

Elivia didn’t suspect a thing until - purely coincidentally - the first song that played in the taxi from the airport to the hotel was ‘Perfect’ by Ed Sheeran.

“Elivia turned to me and said, ‘have you set something up here?’” Andy revealed.

“I said, ‘no, don’t be stupid, why would I set this up?’ – really I’m thinking, ‘if she only knew what song is going to be on in the restaurant in two nights.’”

When the song played at that very moment, Elivia’s suspicions were raised once again.

“Then they dropped the lights and the music came on and she looked at me and said exactly the same as in the taxi, ‘have you set something up?’” Andy explained.

“I said, ‘I have this time, yeah.’”

The couple are hoping to get married at Melbourne Church in August 2020.