See Florida Supercon 2012: The Greatest Costumes; more photos from Florida Supercon this year.
Talk about finding love in a hopeless place.
For those who buy into pop culture geek stereotypes, a comic book/anime/video game convention might just be the most hopeless place there is. At this year's Florida Supercon, one couple didn't just find love -- they leveled it up in a big way with a marriage proposal fit for a Star Trek nerd, complete with a major unplanned lighting cue. The lights went out, but the proposal went on, melting even the most cynical and jaded of nerd hearts.
Did the prospective fiancée run away at warp speed? Or will their love live long and prosper? Find out after the jump.
A neon green X marked the spot on the convention floor where Cora Mouyal was led by a Final Fantasy cosplayer and asked to stay put. Soon after, the whole convention hall went dark -- a completely unplanned lighting cue, according to Liz Murphy, the proposal's coordinator. The proposal was not delayed by the lighting mishap and was able to continue in the dark with a little help from the news cameras already stationed nearby.
Cora was approached on all sides by a variety of cosplayers bearing long-stemmed roses, including Kingpin, Boba Fett, and Poison Ivy, all whispering sweet nothings in her ear. A Star Trek cosplayer handed her the final rose saying, "I love you more than Star Trek." At that moment, Mitch Teichman appeared, dropping to one knee and asking for her hand. She nodded her head, and they embraced to raucous applause.
Star Trek has played a major role in their relationship, it turns out. Mitch and Cora watch TNG (The Next Generation for the uninitiated) together on Netflix, citing Q as one of their favorite characters. Cora, originally from France, credits Captain Jean-Luc Picard with being the man who helped teach her English.
This proposal was planned secretly between Mitch and Liz for over a month with a series of conference calls and culminating with a walkthrough of the show floor the day before. Asked if, after all this planning, there was any worry of being turned down, Mitch says, "There wasn't much mystery. I knew she was going to say yes."
Cora and Mitch, who came from Boynton Beach to attend the con, met on JDate, an online community for Jewish singles. This proposal was part of JDate's program that delivers dream marriage proposals to their success stories. The proposal came close to the one-year anniversary of the day they met.
Will they take their love of Star Trek and make it into a themed wedding ceremony? "I don't know about the wedding day...we'll think about it," says the new fiancée. "This might be enough."
--Elisa Melendez
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