An Indecent Proposal
May 26, 2009 Wrecks reader Mark B. decided to propose to his girlfriend while they were on a Caribbean cruise last August. Like all good guys, he wanted to do it in a way that was both memorable and a little unique. So, after much thought, he decided to use a cake. (Told you he was a good guy.) With that settled, all that was left to do was choose the perfect words to form his request.
Well, the night before he planned to propose arrived, and Mark still hadn't decided on an inscription. As he and his girlfriend went for a walk on the beach, though, they came across the very inspiration he'd been looking for. There, written in the sand, illuminated by moonlight, was the word "dork".
Ok, so that might not seem like the most romantic of inspirations to you or me, but for Mark it was "a sign". He tells me his girlfriend was always calling him a dork at the time (with much affection, I'm sure), and so standing there that night, he knew exactly what his proposal cake should say.
Now, let's set the scene:
The meal is over, the dessert orders have been given, and Mark is sitting on pins and needles, awaiting the arrival of his proposal cake. The waiter approaches and, with a smile at Mark, places a covered tray before his unsuspecting girlfriend. Then, with a flick of the wrist, the waiter removes the lid to reveal....
this.
Huh.
Well, on the bright side, Mark, this IS quite memorable. In an incomprehensible, what-exactly-did-the-baker-think-s/he-was-writing? kind of way. Still, here's hoping your lovely lady had "many" reasons to agree to "marry" the dork in question. ;)
Reader Comments (124)
I love the blind faith these decorators have in piping whatever-the-heck comes to their minds without any thought of "that can't be right?" :)
Oh, that's funny. I hope she said yes, despite the uhh....goofy inscription. lol
Oh, that poor guy!
But did she say yes? *g*
Wow... and an ugly cake at that.
Aw, and that would have been really cute if they'd gotten the words right. The cake design itself was really nice. Too bad they messed it up.
So, did she say she would 'many' the dork?
I'm guessing he wrote the word "marry" on a sheet of paper and the two "r's" ran together to look like "many" . Still the cake decorator must have wondered what the heck it meant but with the word "dork" in the inscription perhaps she thought that "Many this Dork" was in it's entirety an inside joke between the two of them.
I'm the kind of person that tries to figure out where the translation was lost. What I'm thinking is maybe the person taking the order wrote in quick cursive, so the two "r"s side by side without any definition looked like a cursive "n".
But that's just my opinion.
I think the baker was nipping too heavily at the whipped cream.
Angie (from over at www.HalfAssedKitchen.com)
What an adorable guy (and the cake should have been!!!)!!! Please tell us she said yes anyway!
After laughing to the point of tears, snot and drool...I would have said yes to you Mark. Yes!
Just for the novel thought and for having a sense of humour!
You have most definitely won!
This is toooo good. Too, too awfully perfect.
How sweet! Even if it was messed up, it is the thought that counts. That's too cute/funny. :D
Hahaha...
Aw. Poor dork.
What happened next?!
Oh man that's brutal. I'm sure 50 other people will say it, but the cake decorator is the dork. Maybe there are many of them who work there and it was a Freudian slip.
I literally laughed out loud about this one. She must have been on the floor....
Well - in my opinion it is probably the way he WROTE the message! I have seen my own children's writing (or printing) and all of the letters are jumbled and not sized correctly (i.e., a "d" might look similar to an "a" or an "r" might look more like an "n". At least the cake was nice - hope she said YES!
Methinks the poor guy needs to work on his penmanship!
As messed up as the cake it is makes for a good AND cute story!
- Amy
...can't....stop....(snort) laughing! A super magical moment, the waiting, the butterflies, the moment, the CLIMAX, AND.....MANY???
I can only imagine the "what the...?" that was going through her head :)
Poor Dork!
Kind of fitting... proof positive that this guy IS a bit of a dork!
In a sweet chocolaty kind of way....
I don't understand why so many people don't TYPE the message out on paper before handing it over to people to decorate. Would seem a no brainer to me. You want it right? Give it to the decorator so there is no question what you want written. Geesh.
I just wish a picture of her reaction would have been included with the cake! Poor guy... What a dork for thinking up such a dorky proposal. ;o) Kidding... I thought it was sweet!
DK
http://uberfoodnoob.blogspot.com/
Pretty cake, bad mistake. But funny, nonetheless. I hope the lady in question thought so too.
Thanks for the morning laugh!
~Amy B.
I'm going to have to agree with those who think that he wrote it this way. And since he was on a cruise it's likely English was not the decorator's first language, so I'm going to give them a pass.
But it's a good memory.
I was thinking that "I'm your dork might have been the safer option, but that too has its pitfalls: I'm you're dork. I nothing safe or sacred anymore?
sometimes i think the person who orders the cake should get the basic design and write in their own words! :)
DID SHE SAY YES?
Maybe the decorator looked at the written inscription and thought, "It sounds like it should say 'marry'... but if I put that, and it's NOT, I could be causing a real problem!!! Maybe I shoud go with how it looks instead..."
And then later on down the road when she gets annoyed at him for something, he can protest,
"But honey, you agreed to many me!"
Poor, poor Mark! Hoping there is a dorky wedding coming up soon!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
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That is adorable! Or would have been if it hadn't needed an interpreter.
Poor guy! It's no good if you have to explain the cake. I bet he felt like a dork when he saw what the decorator did.
I see a funny groom's cake at their wedding!
What a cute story though.
ha! That would have been kind of cute with the right words :)
And a little off-topic...I was sitting on the bus the other day and caught part of a cell phone conversation. A guy saying something like "...so I ordered the cake to say 'Sorry I punched you in the face'" I almost wanted to follow him to pick it up so I could snap a picture ;)
hahahahha. Come on...that's WAY more fun than the actual Marry...That's a tale they'll tall at their wedding. In fact...I would run with it...put it on the invitation..."mr & mrs soandso are proud to announce the maniage of their daughter..." Or Hey! We're getting manied!
Could this be the reason that good supermarkets & bakeries will have order forms that have you put your inscription in block boxes so the lettering is clear?
Sweet stuff like this is why I love dorks. Really, Hubby and I are such saps.
The goof up just makes it memorable.
And... what did she say?
Not that i am defending the wreck in any way, but most of the employees on cruise ships are foreign. I'm sure if he just asked the inscription to read "will you marry me?" it wouldn't have been the first time they had seen it. It is a good story to tell though.
Not quite as awesome as "Marry Christnos", but I hope she did choose to "many" that dork! :)
I worked at a Baskin Robbins in HS as a cake decorator and there were occasions where I would call and verify the writing if I could because it would make no sense what-so ever! Not always an option but would certainly help :)
Ooh, that is just so mean. Poor Marc!! Seriously, would a simple "marry" have been so outrageously difficult to write?
Actually, a part of me thinks that having a wrecked proposal cake is much, much worse than having a wrecked wedding cake (I immeadiately thought of the should've-been-a-Sylar-cake cake). I'm sure she still said yes but really, if I had been in his shoes, I think I might have cried.
Some things just aren't supposed to be wrecked, damn it!
^_^ I hope when my guy proposes, it's as memorable as that.
Hopefully in a more positive way, though.
But, did she say "Yes" ???
We need to know!
I actually called my (now) husband a dork right after he proposed to me. Well, I said yes first, then I called him a dork. It really is a term of endearment. :D
This cake cracks me up. I'm sure she loved it and said yes. how could you say no to that?????
Ooooh, a proposal cakewreck...love it!
THIS should be the cover to your book!!! Seriously would grab a lot of attention.
Jennifer
Well, he's upfront dork...and it's the thought that counts.