Ahead of their fifth wedding anniversary, Dave Franco reminisced about his proposal to Alison Brie and why it wasn’t quite the grand romantic gesture he intended to be.
The actor recalled his flawed plan to pop the question during an appearance on Wednesday’s episode of The Late Late Show. The couple first met in New Orleans in 2011 during Mardi Gras and Brie wore a silver mask the whole weekend they were together. Franco explained, “I would try to take it from her, she wouldn’t let me take it. It was this playful back-and-forth.” So at the end of the trip, she left him the mask along with a little note, which he saved. And, ultimately, Franco thought it would be a sweet touch to include the mask in his proposal.
So, the Neighbors star said, he finally decided to ask for her hand in marriage during a trip to Big Sur, California in August 2015. He knew that Brie wanted to choose her own engagement ring, so he bought her a $10 “placeholder ring” from a vintage store for the occasion. “So, we go up to Big Sur, we’re on the back patio, she’s out overlooking the ocean,” Franco remembered. “She turns around, I’m on one knee, I’m wearing the mask, I’m holding up the ring. And because it had been five years, she couldn’t place the mask. She didn’t know what it was.” He continued, “So, what she sees is me wearing this weird, stupid mask, holding up this janky stone ring. And so, the entire proposal is her saying, ‘What is happening right now?’ And it’s me trying to explain how sweet it is that I kept the mask for five years.”
