In January 2021, a 24-year-old videographer named Gunnar Michels (@danielleandgunnar) posted a TikTok with a genuinely unhinged proposition: he wanted to marry a complete stranger from the app. He’d fly her to Las Vegas to do it, and if it didn’t work out, he’d pay for the divorce. “I think people take life too seriously, and I’m just here to prove that it ain’t that deep,” he said in the video. “Life’s a game. Let’s break some norms.”

The offer pulled in thousands of responses. The one that landed was from Danielle Elleinad (@daniiiellelele), also 24 and living five hours away, who had spent years telling her family that the only wedding she’d ever want was a deliberately ridiculous one. She filmed an audition video in a jumpsuit that looked like a wedding dress from the waist up. “I never wanted a traditional wedding, so when I saw this video I KNEW this opportunity was made for me,” she later wrote.

@danielleandgunnar Reply to @gunnar.michels PLEASE DO THIS IF YOU’RE DOWN TO BE MY WIFE! #wheresmywife #marriage #couples ♬ original sound – Danielle & Gunnar

Reply to @gunnar.michels PLEASE DO THIS IF YOU’RE DOWN TO BE MY WIFE!........

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