The twangy guitar choosing begins and the group cheers. It’s time for “Love Story,” the ninth track on Taylor Swift’s Eras tour set listing. Onstage, Ms. Swift strums her guitar and sings a modified Romeo and Juliet story, one with a cheerful ending that closes with Romeo on bended knee and Juliet choosing out a marriage costume.
It’s a Swift traditional that has taken on a brand new and literal that means in the course of the Eras tour, the place some followers have used the musical second to underscore their very own love tales with meticulously deliberate marriage proposals proper there within the stadium whereas Ms. Swift performs.
Megan Voo and Justin Chong are two such followers. The couple, who stay in Melbourne, Australia, and met as structure college students on the Royal Melbourne Institute of Know-how in 2017, acquired engaged throughout certainly one of Ms. Swift’s exhibits of their hometown earlier this 12 months.
Ms. Voo, 26, was in full shock when Mr. Chong, additionally 26, popped the query in February, principally as a result of she had no thought he was even on the live performance within the first place. Ms. Voo attended along with her sister, however, unbeknown to her, Mr. Chong had bought a close-by seat to shock her. (Ms. Voo’s sister was additionally in on the plan.)
Mr. Chong acquired to the live performance early and made the folks seated round him conscious of his plan. They helped type a human defend to maintain him hidden from Ms. Voo. When the second got here, they kindly stepped out of the best way so he might make his technique to Ms. Voo’s seat.
“Once I dropped down and mentioned, ‘Will you marry me?’ the very first thing she mentioned was ‘how did you get a ticket?,’” Mr. Chong mentioned. He wore a ruffled shirt as a nod to the outfit Romeo wears within the “Love Story” music video and proposed with a hoop from his mom.
And whereas the couple didn’t seize Ms. Swift’s consideration, quite a lot of close by attendees filmed the proposal and a number of other shared it on social media the place it shortly went viral. “My pal congratulated us, saying ‘I noticed your video.’ We hadn’t even introduced! This was perhaps two hours after the live performance,” Ms. Voo mentioned.
After the proposal, Mr. Chong didn’t return to his unique seat. “I did ask everybody else. I mentioned, ‘is it OK if I keep right here with my fiancée?’” Everybody was standing for many of the present anyway, he added.
Brittany Litzenberger, 27, had a slight suspicion her boyfriend of practically two years, Sloan Thomas, would possibly suggest on the Eras tour. Whereas making friendship bracelets — Swifties commerce them throughout exhibits — at a celebration at a pal’s condominium earlier than the live performance, she noticed Mr. Thomas sneakily hand one off to her finest pal who can be attending the present with them.
“He had despatched me a number of movies of individuals getting engaged at Eras and I used to be like, ‘oh, that’s so candy. That will be like my dream,’” Ms. Litzenberger, a behavioral technician who lives in Kansas Metropolis, Mo, mentioned.
Final July on the Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas Metropolis, Ms. Litzenberger wore a purple sequined costume, which turned out to be the right outfit for what was about to occur.
“Love Story” got here and went with out Mr. Thomas proposing. However a number of songs later, throughout Ms. Swift’s “Converse Now” set, the proposal occurred. Ms. Swift took the stage in a purple costume and started to play “Enchanted,” a love track about assembly somebody for the very first time. Across the first refrain, Mr. Thomas tapped Ms. Litzenberger on the shoulder and handed her the mysterious friendship bracelet.
Mr. Thomas’ track selection was notably significant, Ms. Litzenberger mentioned. “After our first date, I acquired in my automobile and plugged in my Spotify and shuffled my Taylor and ‘Enchanted’ performed,” she mentioned.
“The friendship bracelet that he gave me mentioned, ‘marry me,’” Ms. Litzenberger mentioned. “Then I flip round and he’s down. He acquired a purple ring field. She was singing within the background, the refrain, which was simply excellent timing. Everyone round me is screaming. I’m crying.”
She had a tough time specializing in the following few songs, she mentioned. “However in a great way, you already know, it made the whole lot actually thrilling.” (Ms. Litzenberger’s pal who hosted the bracelet making get together additionally acquired engaged in the course of the live performance.)
Carmen Castillo additionally mentioned she couldn’t keep in mind the track that performed after her now-fiancé, Vernon Chamorro, proposed throughout “Love Story.”
“He later informed me he was afraid to suggest on the Eras tour as a result of he was afraid I used to be going to die of a coronary heart assault due to all of the feelings and pleasure,” she mentioned. The couple, who stay in Barcelona, Spain, traveled to Tampa, Fla., in April 2023 to see Ms. Swift carry out.
Ms. Castillo and Mr. Chamorro, who’ve been collectively for six years, have set a marriage date for Dec. 14 in Ms. Castillo’s dwelling nation of Nicaragua.
“I wished it to be the 13, however that’s a Friday,” Ms. Castillo mentioned, referencing Taylor Swift’s birthday.
