Couple speaks out after wedding proposal following Italy vacation goes viral

Headlines from ABC News Live
ABC News
June 25, 2026, 3:23 PM

A New York couple is speaking out after their engagement video went viral on TikTok, picking up more than 7.6 million views since it was shared this month.

Joe Fromer's wedding proposal to his fiancee Sydney Burger captured the attention of TikTokers not for its content, but because of the proposal's timing -- after the couple's 10-day vacation to Italy.

"I'd be so mad not gonna lie 😭," one commenter wrote.

"Maybe… he left the ring at home?" another person speculated.

Others may have wanted to take advantage of the Italian viaggio to pop the question, but Fromer decided to do so when he and Burger arrived back home in their sweats after a 10-hour flight.

Joe Fromer's wedding proposal to his fiancee Sydney Burger has gone viral because of the proposal's timing after the couple went on a vacation to Italy.
ABC News

"I wanted it to be very surprising, which, it's hard to really surprise her," Fromer told ABC News' Danny New of his motivation.

"I'm a detective," Burger added.

Fromer said he stuck to his plan and even baked in a red herring, buying shoes for Burger during their European adventure to divert her attention.

"I put the shoes on her, and she thought a ring would pop out, and we just went to dinner," Fromer recounted.

While they were in Italy, Fromer made sure to enlist two of the couple's best friends, including Jonathan Choeff, to help him get the apartment he shared with Burger ready for the main event.

Choeff said he and another friend bought sunflowers, Burger's favorite flower, and decorated the couple's apartment with the fresh florals and candles.

"We did some practice runs, seeing how it would look from every angle," Choeff told New.

The friends also set up a webcam to capture the moment, and family and friends were able to tune in to witness Fromer kneeling down on one knee and presenting Burger with a sparkling ring.

Burger said the resulting video "provoked a lot of discourse around what a proposal should look like," but at the end of the day, she said she loved how her engagement turned out.

"THANKS EVERYONE FOR YOUR FEEDBACK BUT I LOVED MY ENGAGEMENT AND I WAS TOTALLY STUNNED!!!! It was perfectly us and unfortunately (or fortunately) an aesthetic Italy proposal just isn't!" Burger wrote in a response to one TikTok comment.

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