He edited himself into Shrek to propose. It went viral.

Carter had been sitting on this idea for months, but he didn't commit to the execution until two weeks before the moment that mattered. He chose Shrek — that 2001 animated film that somehow everyone carries fondly in their chest — and got to work in secret.

The setup was simple. He and his girlfriend Andressa were watching the movie from their couch when he excused himself. "You can keep it playing. I've seen this already. I'll be back in one second," he said. What she didn't know was that he'd spent weeks editing himself into one of the film's most iconic moments: the church scene where Shrek confesses his love to Princess Fiona.

But when that scene played, it wasn't the ogre who burst through the doors. It was Carter in a suit, objecting to the wedding and somehow recruiting the Gingerbread Man to play Talking Heads. The absurdity was deliberate, the charm unmissable.

Then he stepped back into the living room, dressed in that same suit, and knelt down. "I've thought a lot about what I want to say at this moment," he told her. "But I'm just at such a loss for words. Would you do me the honor, Andressa Da Silva, of becoming my bride?"

The couple met on a film set and both work in the industry, so a movie-based proposal felt right — but there was something else about the choice. Shrek is one of those rare films that transcends its moment. It's funny to people who grew up with it and funny to people who discovered it later. It belongs to everyone in a way that few things do. Carter understood that when he picked it.

When the video went public, it rippled outward. Strangers on the internet cheered. Andressa found herself in the strange, wonderful position of having one of the happiest moments of her life witnessed and celebrated by people she'd never met. "I'm feeling very celebrated," she said, "and it's phenomenal to see strangers on the internet cheering for one of the happiest moments of my life."

There's something about a proposal that takes months to plan but only seconds to execute — the vulnerability of that moment, the hope folded into every edit and costume change. When it lands, it lands completely.