Oct. 3 (UPI) — A Missouri man brought his girlfriend to a zoo and enlisted the help of a giraffe for his surprise marriage proposal.
The Dickerson Park Zoo posted photos to Facebook showing Mili the giraffe helping out with Cody Hall’s proposal to girlfriend Makayla Blankey at the zoo on Sept. 24.
Hall coordinated with zookeepers before the proposal to have Mili wearing a lanyard around her neck with the ring attached when he brought Blankey to the giraffe feeding station.
“Marriage was something we had talked about, so I knew she’d say yes,” Hall told the Springfield News-Leader. “But it’s a different feeling when you ask the question and she says yes. It’s still surreal.”
He said Blankey suspected nothing before the proposal.
“We got there and [Makayla] had the idea that we were just getting a behind-the-scene tour,” Hall said. “They gave us this spiel about how we are going to feed the giraffe and help participate in a training exercise. They showed us the training exercise, getting Mili to point at a big tennis ball with her nose. They gave Makayla a tree branch to feed the giraffe and when it craned its neck out, the ring was hanging.”
The zoo suggested the pair involve Mili in their forthcoming special day.
“Congrats to Cody and Makayla. We think Mili should be your honorary ring bearer on your big day,” zoo officials wrote in the Facebook post.
“I want to say a huge thank you to Dickerson Park Zoo and its staff,” Hall said. “They exceeded my expectations by far. They were more than generous. We were able to make my dream proposal happen.”
