Sorry lovers, public proposals are officially cringe

Waves gently lapping against the shore, the endless sea behind it. The sun, just below the horizon, framing the water in deep pink and orange. Toes scrunched up in the sand, a broken fingernail, a messy bun and her boyfriend down on one knee with a marquise-cut engagement ring in hand. That’s how interior designer Antara Modi remembers her summer 2024 proposal in the Andamans. “My (now) fiancé and I went for a week-long diving course. On the last day, exhausted and sunburnt, we were just taking in the view when he asked me to marry him,” she shares. “There was not another human in sight, well, except for our diving instructor who took grainy photos on my partner’s iPhone while it was still in its plastic waterproof case.”

For Modi, it was the solitude, the quiet of the sea and the lack of any frills that made her proposal truly meaningful. “This feeling is something we’ll remember forever. It’s not a manufactured moment for Instagram,” she explains. The 29-year-old creative is hardly alone in wanting her proposal to look nothing like the videos that go viral on the internet. After years of witnessing larger-than-life, cinematically filmed wedding proposals that rake up millions of views and turn the couple into micro-influencers overnight, young Indians want to turn back time in favour of intimacy. No more Eiffel Tower surprises, no poofy-princess dresses with hair and makeup artists, no OTT scavenger hunts featuring family from everywhere and definitely no flash mobs at Times Square.

What may have once been aspirational and cute is now—let’s be real—try-hard and cringe. “Back in 2018, 90% of our clients wanted public proposals. Today it’s the opposite. Couples want extreme personalisation, unique concepts and authenticity—absolutely nothing for the ’gram,” shares Varnika Aggarwal, founder of proposal planning company All About Love. For a couple that loves Shah Rukh Khan films, the expert recently recreated the infamous mustard fields from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), curating a special but intimate proposal venue that’s true to their story. While the setup may be extravagant, it was strictly for their eyes only.