Love story goes viral
Thursday, November 13, 2014 2:00 AM
News
Pittsburg, KS
It all started with a little wooden knob.
“For my birthday, he gave me a knob and made me wait until our two-year dating anniversary to find out what it went to,” said Carly Stene, a Pittsburg State University senior clinical lab sciences major from Lenexa, Kan.
The “he” in this scenario is Blake Bullinger, a
PSU senior automotive technology major from Colwich, Kan.
The veil of mystery surrounding that little wooden knob was lifted on Oct. 9 – their anniversary – when Bullinger gave Stene the hand-crafted armoire he built for his sweetheart.
“I couldn't think of anything to give her, and she wouldn't tell me anything that she wanted,” Bullinger said. “I was thinking about what I could give her, and then I thought about how she didn't have anything to put her jewelry in. At first, I was going to build a simple jewelry box but it ended up being a big armoire.”
Two major events in their lives came next. One was planned. The other was beyond their wildest dreams.
“I was so distracted by what the knob could go to, it didn't even cross my mind he would ask me to marry him,” Stene said. “I was absolutely surprised when I got to the bottom drawer and opened the ring box.”
That was the planned part.
Family members were present with cameras in hand to capture this special moment. Stene said she assumed the cameras were to record her reaction to the jewelry armoire.
This is where the love story, in today’s age of viral videos and social media, takes an interesting turn.
A family member uploaded the video of the surprise engagement to YouTube a day later. At first, a few views trickled in.
“We put the video up for our family to see,” Bullinger said.
Well, their family did see it. And as of Thursday morning, so have 1.7 million other people. That’s just on YouTube.
The couple and their video have since been featured by national media outlets such as Good Morning America and the Huffington Post. A quick Google search of their names reveals even more websites sharing their story.
The post about their story on the PSU Facebook page reached more than 250,000 people in a matter of days.
How does the couple feel about all of this attention?
“We think other people seem to be enjoying it a lot more than we are,” Stene said. “It’s not that we aren't enjoying it, but everyone thinks it is so amazing.
“Blake and I are more excited about being engaged and getting married,” she said. “We are enjoying this very exciting time and not letting any of this attention take away from the special moment we shared and what it means for our future.”