Watch a wedding proposal under the Vulcan statue in Birmingham

Charlie King and his longtime girlfriend, Shondra Parker, have been together for seven years and have two daughters.

On Saturday, King decided it was time to propose.

He wanted to do it in a dramatic way, with a beautiful view of Birmingham. “I wanted to overlook the city,” King said. “That was the main thing.”

So he positioned himself under the Vulcan statue in Vulcan Park and put up a sign that read, “Will you marry me?” and had a friend scatter rose petals.

He recruited another friend to bring Shondra to the scene.

“The hardest part was making sure everyone showed up, and she showed up, and she didn’t give anyone away,” King said.

“She didn’t know,” he said.

When Shondra realized what was happening, King dropped to one knee, pulled out a ring and popped the question. She said yes. Their daughters Charlotte, 3, and Chloe, 1, stood by and witnessed the proposal.

Shondra said afterward that she was surprised. “I had no idea,” she said.

Charlie works as a real estate agent and Shondra is a health specialist. They live together in Homewood, about three minutes from Volcano Park.

King is happy that everything is going smoothly with the proposal. “It was a good location,” he said.

A crowd gathered to watch the sun go down listened to the proposal, with tourists even cheering from the tower overlooking the Vulcan below the statue.