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Grooms Go All Out With Extreme Wedding Proposals

MIAMI (CBSMiami) — You can count on most weddings to be elaborate affairs that come with an equally fancy price tag, and now big price tags are also accompanying the wedding proposals.

Extreme proposals are becoming the latest trend to pop the question.

"The wedding itself is really about what the bride wants, but actually, the proposal is really the groom's chance to shine," said proposal planner Sarah Pease.

And according to Pease, the groom can expect to pay for all the luster.

"I mean, I plan marriage proposals well over $50,000 plenty of times," said Pease.

She added that not all proposals are in that rarefied air, but a big plan to pop the question can cost a lot. A proposal on a ice rink cost more than $5,000 and a sweet musical serenade in a specially-decorated hotel room was about $9,000.

"Whenever you get engaged, the first question that people ask you is, 'How did he pop the question?'" said Pease. "And I think that people are starting to realize that and they want to have a great story to tell."

Derek Mitchell of GoSeeDo.org specializes in extreme wedding proposals.

"There's nothing more cool than a surprise," said Mitchell.

And a surprise proposal with a flash mob is Mitchell's specialty.

"In a flash mob, you're getting this grandiose presentation. But then a marriage proposal tends to be that romantic one-on-one presentation," said Mitchell. "So I think it's kind of a nice hybrid of bringing the two worlds together."

That was what he did recently for Ken Klavon and Paule Simon. It cost $3,000.

"It was? That's fine. I said I would have said yes in the bathroom," said Simon.

But Klavon said the expense was worth it.

"I would have spent $10,000 for this," said Klavon.

Location permits and casting costs can be a big surprise.

"Usually they're done in the $2,000-$3,000-$4,000 range," said Mitchell.

Groom-to-be Salman Ali said it was money well spent when he surprised his fiancée with a $2,000 Bollywood-style flash mob in Times Square.

"I have to be loud. I have to be out there. I have to do something different," said Ali.

Brides and grooms have had no regrets about spending the money.

"You know what? It's a lot of money, no doubt about it," said Pease. "But you never get a second chance to pop that question."

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