The night Elizabeth Lorini and Nara Youn met, he fell asleep while watching movies in her dorm room with a group of friends and she filled his long hair with rows and rows of tiny braids. She was sure he’d be angry, but he wasn’t. He was back the next day (presumably after combing his hair).

The couple’s creative journey led them to the Bay Area where he worked for DreamWorks as an animator and she, among other places, worked at Zynga as a freelance illustrator.

Family duty called them to Korea, but they plan to return to the Bay Area in another year—as husband and wife. Using the talents of friends around the world, nearly a quarter from the Bay Area, Nara created one of the best proposal videos we have ever seen. We’ll let him explain how it went down, just after Valentine’s Day.

Four days before the event, the main cinematographer had visa complications and couldn’t make it. “If there’s one thing movie production teaches you, it’s make it work,” says Nara. “Although I have two Canon DSLRs, we didn’t have the two high quality cameras he was bringing, so we had to settle with crappy phone cameras. But after going through all the footage, I saw an unexpectedly great charm about the flawed movie clips. I started tearing up while editing because, to me, the camera shakes and out of focus places made it feel like I was there again.”

As for Elizabeth, she was shocked. Not only by the proposal, but by the fact Nara managed to keep it a secret. “I thought it was impossible for him to catch me off my guard after nine years,” she says. “The moment I realized this was THE PROPOSAL, I smacked my head.”

Although the wedding deets are still being worked out, it’s likely the couple will be married next spring in Seoul. The one thing they are certain of is that they want to have cute and colorful cupcakes at the event.