Center stage in the city! It seemed like another date night in NYC for Fox and Friends producer AJ Hall and his girlfriend Nicole Pagano, but he had bigger plans in mind: May 14, 2016 would be the day they got engaged in the dazzling center of Times Square.
Hall carefully secured a billboard in a prime location of Manhattan’s famed tourist location and devised a plan that would lure Pagano to the spot. His proposal video was captured by photographer Brian Tully, and the adorable moment went viral shortly after the clip was posted to YouTube.
In an exclusive interview with The Knot, bride-to-be Pagano opens up about how the proposal went down (and how her boss even helped out with the special moment!).
“He planned the whole night so I wouldn’t have a clue,” Pagano says of her fiance, whom she first met in the workplace in 2010. “I had a crush on him the moment I met him.” The two started off their relationship as friends and eventually, that connection evolved into romance in April 2014.
Ahead of his proposal, Hall made dinner reservations at the swanky Polo Bar in Midtown Manhattan. “He had my best friend set up a fake date night,” Pagano tells The Knot. “I thought we were all going out for drinks after dinner.”
Hall, though, had more tricks up his sleeve. He utilized his connections, including Pagano’s boss at the Daily Mail, Sean Walsh, who partook in a pivotal moment. “During dinner, [my boss] Sean asked me to check out a promotional video on one of the big screens in Times Square for work,” Pagano tells The Knot. “That’s why when you watch the video that was playing in the billboard it say ‘DailyMail.com presents.’ I thought it was all for work!”
Pagano, a publicist, ended up in the spot, and a mini movie was screened for the pair — and for many curious Times Square visitors and bypassers. The clip kicked off with the message, “Tonight history happens again. Are you ready?” Then, a photo of the pair emerged on the billboard’s screen.
AJ Hall kisses his new fiancee Nicole Pagano shortly after proposing in NYC’s Times Square. (Credit: BRIAN M. TULLY)
The grand finale ended with Hall holding a crisp black-and-white sign that read, “Marry me?” A shocked Pagano whipped around to her boyfriend and he was already down on one knee, holding out the engagement ring and waiting for her answer.
The entire Times Square proposal was captured on video and though Hall’s girlfriend was very much in shock, she managed to shout “yes!”
“I couldn’t believe it,” she tells The Knot. “We always talked about getting engaged, but I didn’t know it would happen before the summer.”
He made sure to include their beloved friends and family members. “AJ is also so sweet,” Pagano tells The Knot. “He had my parents and his parents there in the crowd waiting for us after we got engaged!”
Watch him propose above. “I still cry when I watch the video,” she concludes.
