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It was a special day for more than one lucky lady.
At a wedding last fall, Brittany Brink, 31, was pulled onto the dance floor against her will to participate in the bouquet toss for the bride, the sister of Brink’s boyfriend.
“I was almost annoyed,” Brink recalled to Today. “I’m already taken. I don’t need to come out for the bouquet toss.”
But this was no ordinary wedding formality. Instead of throwing the flowers over her head into the crowd of eagerly awaiting women, the bride, Victoria Krause, turned around and handed them to Brink.
Then, Brink’s boyfriend got down on one knee.
Holding their 2-year-old son Carter, Rich Ciallella asked Brink to marry him in the middle of his sister’s reception, a phenomenon that would typically be a faux pas but was met with cheering and applause.
“Immediately, I go, ‘Why would you do this on your sister’s wedding day? Why would you do this?’” Brink said.
But it was the bride’s idea all along. After Krause saw a viral video of a wedding proposal, she convinced Ciallella to follow suit.
“She starts crying, and she’s like, ‘I really wanted you to have this moment. I really wanted your aunt to be here for this proposal, because I know that you can’t have your parents here,’” said Brink, who lost both of her parents within months of each other in 2022.
Her fiancé’s family has supported her for years since, and her soon-to-be mother-in-law said Brink is like a “daughter” to her.
“I’m not your mom. I’m not trying to replace her, but I want to do anything I can to make this special for you,’” Brink remembers her saying.
Brink had been waiting for Ciallella to pop the question for months. The lovebirds had shopped for rings and went on weeklong vacations that seemed like the perfect setting for a proposal, but to no avail.
Little did she know, she would get engaged when she least expected it.
“It was just so sweet. It was really our moment,” Brink said, adding that she’s thrilled her future sister-in-law was part of their special moment. “It just meant so much to me.”
She posted a video of the shock proposal to Facebook, writing, “I will be forever grateful for Victoria Anne & Gary Krause for wanting to share YOUR special day for this moment that will be one of the best memories of my life! “
Similar proposals have rocked the internet with controversy, with critics arguing that proposing at a wedding will upstage the newlyweds’ special day. So, of course, Brink faced backlash online.
“I understand why people say it’s controversial. When I got engaged, I felt like, that’s the bride’s moment. But in my story, Tori was really behind this and wanted this for me,” explained Brink, who is tying the knot in October.
“If the bride’s OK with it, if everyone is OK with it, let them have their moment.”