Dave Franco Recounts Awkward Proposal to Wife Alison Brie: 'She Didn't Know What It Was'
George Pimentel/WireImage Alison Brie and Dave Franco
Dave Franco is reminiscing about his and his wife Alison Brie's love story.
The Afterparty star, 36, recounted his awkward proposal to Brie, 39, during his appearance on Wednesday's episode of The Late Late Show, as he prepares to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary.
They met during Mardi Gras in New Orleans in 2011, for which she was wearing a silver mask throughout the weekend. "I would try to take it from her, she wouldn't let me take it. It was this playful back-and-forth," Franco explained. At the end of the trip, she left him a note with the mask, which Franco saved and incorporated into his proposal several years later.
Franco popped the question during a trip to Big Sur, Calif. in August 2015. Since he knew Brie wanted to pick out her own engagement ring, he bought a "placeholder ring" from a vintage store for $10.
"So, we go up to Big Sur, we're on the back patio, she's out overlooking the ocean," he recounted. "She turns around, I'm on one knee, I'm wearing the mask, I'm holding up the ring. And because it had been five years, she couldn't place the mask. She didn't know what it was.
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The 21 Jump Street actor added: "So, what she sees is me wearing this weird, stupid mask, holding up this janky stone ring. And so, the entire proposal is her saying, 'What is happening right now?' And it's me trying to explain how sweet it is that I kept the mask for five years."
He and Brie tied the knot during a private ceremony in March 2017. Brie later spoke to PEOPLE about how she and Franco were finding their footing in their first year of marriage.
"Something about being married made me feel so settled, almost more free, I guess, rather than like trapped," she said that November. "It's great. So now, let's go do whatever we want. Onward and upward."
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Franco is preparing to direct his wife in his upcoming Amazon romantic comedy Somebody I Used to Know, the script for which they co-wrote together. Brie previously starred in his 2020 directorial debut The Rental.
"I enjoyed watching him work with everybody and seeing the crew fall in love with him because he was so collaborative and so passionate," Brie told PEOPLE at the time. "His enthusiasm on set is infectious and it made me fall in love with him all over again."
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