Skip to content

VIDEO: Langley man pops the question on the big screen with help of Aldergrove’s Twilight Drive-In

Couple’s friends couldn’t be there due to COVID safety rules but carloads of people cheered them on

Langley resident Marcel Fischer attended the Twilight Drive-In this Sunday with a girlfriend, and left with a fiancee.

With the help of staff at the Aldergrove attraction, the 33-year-old was able to project his marriage proposal on the big screen to Laura Anderson of Langley.

The couple planned to see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban nearly two weeks after the business closed and reopened, adhering to a new 50-car limit.

After the opening trailers June 7, the Drive-In played a short video Fischer had put together to surprise “the love of [his] life.”

In the opening scene, Fischer is seen swiping left on a dating app, finally matching with Anderson after a swipe right on his phone.

The couple’s memories flashed high up on the 40-foot screen, the video, ending with a question: “Will you marry me?”

[Story continues below video of proposal]

“Everyone was honking and screaming congratulations out of their car windows,” Anderson recalled, while her boyfriend got down on bended knee.

“I felt like a dream,” she told the Aldergrove Star.

In the car behind them, Fischer’s friend Wade – who helped make the video – was parked, this time filming the moonlit proposal.

Anderson said “yes.”

Fischer said he wished more of their friends and family could have been there to celebrate the occasion, but the COVID-19 pandemic made it tricky.

Twilight Drive-in owner Jay Daulat – who saw the whole thing while at work – said the proposal was “really impressive.”

Since provincial health restrictions went into effect May 22, those in cars at events, have been ordered to stay inside their vehicles.

But in place of their friends, “moviegoers were honking and yelling. They really got involved,” Daulat said.

READ MORE: Utterly unique marriage proposal enlists help of Aldergrove’s Happy Herds

As it turns out, the engaged couple was too excited to stay for the full show.

“We left a half-hour in. We needed to go back home and celebrate,” Anderson remarked.

Fischer, who moved to Canada nearly a decade ago, was quick to tell his family back in Germany.

The boyfriend had been trying to pop the question since February, his fiancee said.

“With this pandemic and everything – to have a love, joy, and happiness to bask in right now is amazing.”

RELATED: Twilight Drive-In reopens with concession sales approved by Fraser Health, owner says

Daulat added that it’s not the first proposal to happen at the last remaining drive-in movie theatre in Metro Vancouver.

“We’ve had several happen over the years,” the owner said. “And weddings, too.”

Requests to use the business’ lot during the pandemic have in fact increased, he said, as indoor venues have shuttered.

“We’ve had a few couples reach out when their churches closed.”

Drive-in staff, including Daulat’s tech-savvy son, collaborate with customers to fulfill special requests.

“There’s some work that goes into it on our part,” Daulat lauded.

READ MORE: Drive-In movies: Old-fashioned and fashionable

21823851_web1_engaged
Langley resident Marcel Fischer, 33, proposed to Laura Anderson, 36, with help from the Twilight Drive-In theatre on Sunday, June 7. (Laura Anderson/Special to the Star)
21823851_web1_proposalC
Langley resident Marcel Fischer, 33, proposed to Laura Anderson, 36, with the help of Twilight Drive-In on Sunday, June 7. (Screenshot/Special to the Star)