Andrew Di Luciano wanted a few twists and turns when he popped the question, so he tricked his girlfriend into dashing through a hedge maze for what she thought was a $1500 radio competition prize.
He even hired actors and a production company to pose as a radio station film crew to ensure the elaborate set-up — and big reveal — was captured on camera.
Mr Di Luciano, 29, from the western Sydney suburb of Bonnyrigg Heights, said the happy outcome was worth all the effort.
"I wanted to do something original and fun, something she wouldn't expect," he told ninemsn.
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His new fiancée Sacha was sucked into the romantic ploy with a phone call from a friend of Mr Di Luciano's, who pretended he was calling from Melbourne radio station MIX.
Sacha, whose surname was not disclosed, didn't suspect a ruse when she heard her boyfriend entered her into a competition to find her way out of Melbourne's famous Ashcombe Hedge Maze in less than 15 minutes.
So on the morning of January 27 Sacha found herself surrounded by 3m-high cypress plants and being interviewed on camera by an actor ahead of the fake contest.
"Now, you've got an extra helper for today. Who have you brought?" the actor asks Sacha on camera.
"This is Andrew. He's my boyfriend," says the 25-year-old accountant from Engadine, in Sydney's south.
Sacha raced through the maze in four minutes to find Mr Di Luciano on the other side waiting beside a white table set with champagne.
"It's all a set-up, all of this," he tells his stunned girlfriend, before dropping to one knee with a diamond ring in hand.
"That was so cool," says Sacha, after saying yes.
The couple plan to wed in early July.
Sacha is yet to demand the $1500 prize money, Mr Di Luciano said.
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