It can be the one of the happiest days of your life... or truly the worst.
This week, an excruciating video emerged showing the moment a romantic marriage proposal failed spectacularly in front of hordes of sports fans.
As the hopeful bloke got down on one knee during a minor league baseball game in Massachusetts, the mortified woman can be seen shaking her head before making a dash for the stands - leaving him to run after her with his stunned pals.
Racking up thousands of views on Instagram, one cringing user wrote, "Jesus Christ I got second hand embarrassment from this", while another simply said: "Love is dead."
The heartbroken lad can at least take solace in the fact he is far from alone. Over the years many more have been left in shock after popping the question, while other romantic gestures have taken truly disastrous turns.
From a furious woman whacking her man on the head with a ukulele to rings going AWOL and a questionable prank, here are some of the world's most indecent proposals.
Mall or nothing
Caroline might have suspected something was up when her boyfriend decided to take a trip to the shopping mall wearing a suit.
Surrounded by fast food outlets packed with hungry diners, the man gets down on one knee, explaining they met one year ago on the spot they are standing in.
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Upping the ante, a bloke then appears with an acoustic guitar playing 'Sweet Caroline' - a sweet nod to her name - and the shoppers join in.
The romantic scene takes a turn for the worse, however, when the ring appears. Caroline puts her hands over her face, clearly overwhelmed, before making a sudden dash for the exit.
The poor man is left in a state of bafflement, before quickly leaving the mall. As the rather cruelly laughing cameraman puts it: "That was brutal."
Pranks for the memories
YouTube pranks are a sure fire way to go viral - but sometimes the jokers can find the last laugh is on them.
One American couple have notched up thousands of fans with their sketches, but when Katie was caught out by her boyfriend, Slaiman, pretending he had cheated on her, she decided to up the stakes.
Filming themselves in their car, she calmly explains that she had been offered a job in London after graduation, delivering the killer line: "I don't want to be with you anymore."
Welling up, Katie could certainly land a role in the West End as an actress, but Slaiman is visibly - and genuinely - upset.
Leaving the vehicle, he returns with his grandmother's ring, tearfully explaining he hoped they could get married one day and laying out his intentions.
Taken aback, Katie awkwardly reveals she was joking. Slaiman doesn't think it very funny, leaving once again in a huff.
Thankfully the couple are still together and have since got engaged - though it did seemingly take another couple of years. Love is no joke!
Un-ukulele in love
Another unhappy trip to the mall, this time in India.
Surrounded by a mushy band - and ominously a ukulele player - this chap takes to the mic to stop shoppers in their tracks, revealing he has a "very special message for a very special girl".
As crowds gather on the balcony above, he explains this was where the couple met just a short three months ago.
"You're my sweetie pie, you're my cherry pie," he coos to the motionless woman, before a miniature train bizarrely cuts through the scene, stopping them in their tracks.
Undeterred, the man continues and gets down on one knee, leaving her desperately pleading with him to get up.
When he doesn't, things truly fall apart. Grabbing the ukulele, she absolutely thwacks him round the head.
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As he lies crumpled on the ground, she slams the instrument down and storms off, while the person videoing tentatively asks: "Are you ok?"
That one's really going to tug on your heart strings.
Should have put a string on it
Sometimes, even when lovers are on the same page, the world can get in the way.
This man in Maryland appeared to be doing everything right, finding a beautiful waterfall to visit with his missus for their special day.
After being presented with the ring, the emotional woman says yes and plants a big kiss on his face.
Unfortunately, as she then goes to inspect the sparkler, it falls out of his hands - inevitably into the cascading water.
"I was crying with happiness but also with fear at the same time," the new fiancee explained afterwards.
The ring was sadly never found, and as the local news reporter dramatically warns: don't stand so close to the water.
Love is in the air
This American fella had everything tied up - unfortunately a little too much so.
With his mate hiding in a bush with a camera, he explains he's going to propose to his girlfriend when she arrives, pointing to the big heart-shaped balloon he's holding before attaching the ring to it.
Going out of earshot as he goes to meet her, everything is going smoothly - until he asks her to marry him.
Throwing her arms up in apparent delight, the woman, predictably, lets go of the balloon.
The man cries "no, wait" in despair and within moments the whole package is soaring above the treetops.
As the cameraman chases to get it in shot, the whole thing begins to resemble a scene from the Blair Witch Project.
"Why did you tie it to the balloon?" the woman can be heard shrieking. Her lover sounds rather deflated.
Heart burn
Perhaps the be all and end all of marriage proposals gone wrong, one hopeless romantic managed to burn his entire flat to the ground.
Albert Ndreu, from Sheffield, Yorks, spent two weeks meticulously planning his perfect night after buying a ring for Valerija Madevic.
He had decided to surprise his sweetheart by filling their living room with dozens of candles, around 100 tealights and roughly 60 balloons. Some of the lights he used to spell out 'Marry Me?' on the floor.
Albert then went out to pick up his love to bring her home for the surprise, but after he left, the flat caught fire.
Fortunately, after the fire department extinguished the blaze, he still found the courage to pop the question - and she said yes.
"I was so nervous, this was the first time I have ever proposed and I hope it will be the last," he said.
"I was so worried about everything going wrong I never imagined I could set the house on fire."