Man shut down 'Natural History Museum' to propose — but when she saw who was behind the camera, she lost it

It’s not every day that one of the world’s most famous museums is shut down and lit with candles to ask one question. Inside London’s Natural History Museum, a man set the stage for his proposal in a way that felt more like a film scene than real life. The man, Calvin, told his girlfriend, Tally, that she was showing up to a gala for his work. What Tally didn’t know was that the real surprise wasn’t just the proposal itself. It hit her when she looked up and saw Jay Dekony behind the lens, her favorite US photographer, flown in just for this moment. Dekony shared the moment to her Instagram @jaydekony on September 5, which got 8.5 million views and 352k likes.

The video shows Calvin turning to Tally and saying, "The photographers are the ones you wanted from America." Upon seeing Dekony, she immediately gasped, repeating, "Oh my goodness. Oh my god. Oh my god! He didn’t do that." She ran up to Dekony, still in disbelief, "Is it Jay? I’m shaking like absolutely crazy." Still processing what was happening, she laughed through tears, saying, "This is beyond my wildest dreams. We’re gonna have to sell the cat. This is crazy." Dekony, who had purposely thrown Tally off by posting on her Instagram stories that she was in Madrid, explained in another video how surreal the night was for her, too.

She explained that Tally had admired her work for years, and Calvin wanted to make sure her dream photographer was there for the biggest moment of her life. Months earlier, he had reached out with the plan. To protect the secret, Jay even misled Tally by posting from Madrid on her Instagram stories. On the night of the proposal, Jay and her teammate stayed far back to give the couple space as Calvin proposed, and the two shared champagne afterward. When Calvin finally revealed who the photographers were, Jay described watching Tally run over in pure joy. "For someone to appreciate what I put so much time into, to that level, it’s a dream come true," she said, adding that the night felt surreal.

Calvin’s careful planning, emotional attentiveness, and deep listening all show how meaningful it can be when you are happy in your partner's happiness. This feels like a perfect snapshot of what research actually shows about empathetic relationships. A study on sympathetic joy (sometimes called empathic joy), the sincere happiness we feel when someone close to us experiences joy, showed it's a relationship-strengthening emotion. It claimed that having a partner who empathizes with one’s positive emotions may carry even greater benefits for the relationship.

The video moved many viewers, and they couldn't get enough of both Calvin’s thoughtfulness and Tally’s priceless reaction. @alivingfeast added, "This is super sweet. But also, can we talk about the fact that this man closed the whole museum just for her?" @erinsellsatx wrote, "Seeing her fiancé so excited to tell her about the photographer and genuinely thrilled for her happiness and excitement." Calvin, @calvinjimenezzz, commented, "Her reaction was more than I could have ever hoped for. If Tally hadn’t reacted like this, I would have been heartbroken. We had already been sitting post proposal for quite a while, so it was perfect timing!" @heyitskwags added, "I love how proud Calvin is that he got to do this for her, that he knew what she wanted and managed to pull the whole thing off (& how excited he is to tell her!!)"

You can follow Jay Dekony (@jaydekony) on Instagram for more photography and videography content.

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