A flash mob, a marching band and a marriage proposal: surefire recipe for a viral video.

The clip of Craig Jones, a 2008 Syracuse University alumnus, elaborately popping the question to Allison Leclaire, a 2006 alumna, on June 9 garnered more than 171,000 hits on YouTube and media attention.

The newly engaged couple, and other SU alumni, shed details on the day when they went from dating to engaged.

Craig Jones and Allison Leclaire

It was his 26th birthday. Why should Craig Jones question a costume party?

Led by his girlfriend, who provided him with a Fred Flintstone outfit, he walked into a restaurant. To his surprise, he came across 25 friends in suits and ties.

“So from that day on, I was like whenever this proposal comes, its got to be big,” Jones said.

And he went big.

On the day itself, Jones stood at the front of the marching band. If he wasn’t already hot enough from nerves and the uniform, Leclaire was 15 minutes late and he feared police would stop them.

But he received a cue from his friend near the entrance, and they marched in the street and into Bryant Park. He slyly moved toward the back; at the right time, he would pop out.

Jones said he had to work that morning, but they’d meet for lunch with his boss. Once they arrived, they “ran into” a friend and chatted until a woman grabbed Leclaire and pulled her toward a table. The woman began to dance and the flash mob came together one by one.

“I thought to myself, ‘I can handle a flash mob, he’s probably going to start dancing and propose,’” she said. “Then, I saw the marching band and I started shaking. … When I saw my friends and family, I just lost it. At that point, I was just so overwhelmed with emotions, I didn’t even hear half of his proposal.”

He got on one knee and said, “Allison Leclaire, before I met you, I didn’t think that I could love someone for the rest of my life. Now, I know I can. Can you please, please marry me?”

She enthusiastically said yes.

Though they just got engaged, Leclaire knows one thing about their wedding.

“We’ll give a nod to Syracuse somehow,” she said.

Jennifer and Matt Barbour

As a freshman, Jennifer Barbour sat on a bench in the Quad on her first date. Months after graduating, she found herself in the same spot, watching her boyfriend, Matt, get on one knee to propose.

Barbour, a 1998 alumna, returned to SU to visit her boyfriend. The two met their first year of college and became both literally and figuratively close — they lived across the hallway from each other in Flint Hall.

That weekend, after plans to see a Billy Joel concert fell through, they attended a football game in the Carrier Dome.

Afterward, Barbour found herself walking down memory lane, a path encircling the campus with memorable spots during their four years of dating. Some included their first date at Olive and Orange, now a bank, where they first kissed. Eventually, they were at the bench where they talked during their first date.

After she said yes, their next destination was a bit farther away: They spent a night at Turning Stone Resort and Casino.

The pair married at Hendricks Chapel on Aug 12, 2000. Their reception was at the Sheraton University Hotel and Conference Center, and the rehearsal dinner was at the Spaghetti Warehouse.

“We feel a deep connection to Syracuse because it’s where we met,” Barbour said. “We loved our time there, and we still bleed orange.”

Heather Sachs, now Heather Robbins

If Heather Robbins ever gave someone a tour of the Brooklyn Bridge, she would point out a special spot. Guides do not mention it — at least not for the same reason.

By the second set of pillars on the Brooklyn side of the bridge, Robbins’s boyfriend, Arion, proposed to her on Oct. 25, 2008. Robbins, a 2004 alumna, met Arion through mutual friends in New York City.

When he brought up the idea earlier in the month, Robbins thought nothing of a Brooklyn Bridge tour. She loved guided tours, and her favorite place in the city was the bridge. But this was different: It was only the two of them and a guide.

Halfway through the tour, they halted at the pillars. The guide explained how the bridge’s chief engineer suffered a stroke and paralysis on the right side of his body due to his undying dedication to the project. The man’s wife, his “right-hand woman” and “pillar of strength,” ran the entire project and rented an apartment on the water so the man could watch his dream being completed.

“The guide went on to say that ‘this is where Miranda and Steve reunite in the ‘Sex and the City’ movie,’” she said. “Continuing with, ‘This is also where Arion proposed to Heather.’”

She turned around to find Arion on his knee, with the ring box open. She fell into his arms screaming and crying, and happily said yes.

They married Sept. 12, 2009, in Denver, Colo., Heather’s hometown.

Scott Fleischer and Michelle Tiffenberg

The last thing Michelle Tiffenberg wanted as a freshman was to live on South Campus.

“It might turn out, you never know,” said her mom.

Mother knew best. Tiffenberg met her fiancé on their floor in SkyHall. They met on their second day of college, like Tiffenberg’s parents, also SU alumni.

Scott Fleischer and Tiffenberg, 2010 alumni, started dating that March.

Although they’ve stepped off campus, they left a lasting imprint: a brick in the Orange Grove. “Scott and Michelle. Engaged May 27, 2011. Let’s go Orange!”

Tiffenberg always said if he proposed, she’d want him to do it in Syracuse because that’s where they met. She grew suspicious when Fleischer planned a weekend trip to the area. To try and fool her, his parents said they installed a brick as a graduation present.

Once on campus, Fleischer recalls trying to get Tiffenberg to walk through the Orange Grove, but she stubbornly wanted to walk a different way.

“She wanted to walk around and said, ‘Oh, that’s closer to where we’re going,’” he said. “I was like, ‘No, can we please walk through the Orange Grove?’”

When she found the brick, she pointed and turned to see Fleischer down on one knee. After she said yes, the pair heard cheering from an SU tour group.

For the rest of the weekend, they visited favorite landmarks from their time at SU: Skaneateles, Turning Stone and Chuck’s Cafe for a burger. Some are photographed, mementoes to remember the weekend, thanks to local photographer Mabyn Ludke.

“We’re huge Syracuse people,” Tiffenberg said. “People ask us if we’re going to have Otto at our wedding, and I’ll say, ‘No, thank you.’”

Published on June 28, 2012 at 12:54 pm

Contact Colleen: cbidwill@syr.edu