Pennsylvania CEO Sam Riber recreates scene from ‘The Wedding Singer’ to propose mid-flight
A Pennsylvania-based CEO recreated a scene from “The Wedding Singer” and proposed to his girlfriend on a flight.
Sam Riber, 34, and his fiancé, Lissy Alden, 37, were traveling to Mexico on Lissy’s birthday when Sam surprised her with a performance that ended with him down on one knee.
Riber and Alden are both cinephiles so when Sam decided to propose in October 2024, he knew he wanted to recreate a scene from the 1998 Adam Sandler classic.
Riber, whose job specializes in physical health, managed to smuggle a prop guitar onto the plane without Alden noticing and worked alongside flight attendants creating codewords to pull the surprise off.
Halfway through their flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Mexico City on Christmas Eve, Riber serenaded Alden with the song from the movie and proposed to her, getting an almighty ‘Yes!’ in response.
“It was such a special moment,” Riber said. I almost couldn’t believe it all worked out.”
The couple met less than a year ago in February 2024 at a Shabbat dinner and felt an instant connection.
Eight months later, Riber decided he wanted to propose and he began to plan the proposal.
Riber had always been a fan of the film “The Wedding Singer” and knew he wanted to propose like Adam Sandler’s character Robbie, who serenades his love interest Julia, played by Drew Barrymore, with the song “Grow Old With You” during a mid-flight proposal.
“Lissy had never seen it so I had to find a way to introduce it to her without giving anything away,” Riber said. “I managed to casually suggest a movie night. She went for it and luckily she absolutely loved the film, same as me.
“We’ve since sung versions of that song to each other because we often quote or act out movies to entertain each other but she had no clue about my wider plan.”
Riber had the support of flight attendants on board, who helped him organize the perfect proposal.
“I was lucky enough to have the support of the flight attendants, especially Teri Ramirez, who you see helping me with the PA system,” Riber added. “The team went above and beyond to help, even introducing our code word ‘juice’ so I would know when to go up and grab the guitar they’d been hiding for me.”
“I almost didn’t go [to] that Shabbat dinner in February because I was tired but my mum told me I needed to eat and I’m so glad I went,” Alden, owner of mental and organizational fitness provider MYNDY, said.
“We have both dated a lot before so when we both felt it was really right, we didn’t want to have to wait.”
“Although I had no idea he was going to propose then and there, we had talked about a future so it wasn’t completely out of the blue,” Alden said. “When it first started, I assumed it was because it was my birthday as he’d already done things to celebrate like bumping us up to first class. But, when he got down on one knee, I realized what was happening and just felt so happy.”
“It was definitely a peak life moment.”
The pair are enjoying their engagement and don’t currently have any specific plans for their upcoming wedding.
