Accompanied by a pair of StreetLife performers, a feeble-voiced Steven Galapo proposed to his girlfriend, Nathalie Salem, on Broad Street in Red Bank Saturday night.
Did she say yes? Play the video to find out.
The plein-air question-popping was abetted by Keira McElwaine of Red and Joyce Cataldo of Red Bank RiverCenter.
In making dinner reservations at Red, Galapo, 27, of Westfield. told McElwaine he hoped to propose, but wanted to do it to the tune of ‘Lucky,’ by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat, says McElwaine.
She contacted Cataldo, who enlisted the StreetLife act Sibling Rivalry Justin Zimmerman, 18, and his sister, Alina, 15, of Howell. The whole thing came together in a matter of 24 hours or so.
Galapo said he wanted to propose in Red Bank because he and Salem had their first date here a year ago.
The couple’s friends were told off in advance, and hid out behind parked cars and in storefronts until the big moment. redbankgreen was tipped off, too.
Salem, 21, of Deal, knew a proposal was coming, but she didn’t know when.
“I had no clue it was going to happen when it did,” she tells redbankgreen via email. “I actually had a feeling it was going to be the next day. Still in shock.”
Sibling Rivalry, by the way, will be performing outside the Dublin House on Monmouth Street Saturday night from 6 to 9 p.m. as part of the StreetLife series, should anyone else need musical accompaniment to a proposal.