i have limited sympathy for people who get told “no” after a public proposal because public proposals are pretty much emotionally abusive

like seriously

if you think it’s kinda cute, you can discuss it beforehand and then do a staged one later

but putting someone on the spot in front of a crowd of strangers (or worse, friends) and demanding they give you a yes or no answer to a complex question which will affect the rest of their life is

really not okay