NH Love Stories: Sid and Sara

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Nothing beats an old-fashioned tale of love and romance to tug at our heartstrings — that is unless it’s a new-fashioned tale of love and romance. Here are five New Hampshire couples (beginning with Sid and Sara - see links below to the other four) whose stories are both old and new. Each one is a timeless reminder that true love really is all around you.

Sid and Sara Ceasar holding muppet versions of themselves at Red River Theatres where Sid’s proposal video has its surprise debut. Photo by John Hession.

Sid and Sara commissioned large format tintype/wetplate photographer Yige Wang of Durham to produce several wedding portraits.

Nothing beats an old-fashioned tale of love and romance to tug at our heartstrings — that is unless it’s a new-fashioned tale of love and romance. Here are five New Hampshire couples (beginning with Sid and Sara - see links below to the other four) whose stories are both old and new. Each one is a timeless reminder that true love really is all around you.

More Love Stories

Pam and Craig
Lori and Morgan
Richmond and Geraldine
Dick and Peggy
Bonus: "Chicken Farmer" Rock

Note: A part of our February issue series profiling five New Hampshire couples' real life love stories.

Not since Miss Piggy first met Kermit has a Muppet couple so completely captured the hearts of America as when Nashua photographer Sid Ceaser employed Muppet versions of himself and his longtime girlfriend, Sara Prindiville, to propose marriage. With the help of friends David Seah and Ryan Weber, he took the Muppets - purchased from the Whatnot Workshop - around the Gate City and filmed a fake movie trailer depicting the couple's relationship in the fall of 2010. Once complete, Ceaser scored it with indie filmmaker Nicholas Kirk's "Yours Alone," the love theme from the short film "Heartless: The Story of the Tin Man."

Ceaser began the search for the perfect venue to surprise his beloved. He did not have too far to go, because when the staff at Concord's Red River Theatres screened the trailer, that rare sort of rainbow connection was made. Staffer Kaleena Guzman helped to arrange a private screening and inserted it right after a trailer for "Black Swan." In December 2010, surrounded in the darkened theater by close friends and family, Sara saw her Muppet Sid get down on bended knee and present a ring.

Did she say yes?

Does Gonzo love chickens?

What happened next far exceeded Ceaser's plans or expectations. Prodded by friends who attended the screening, as well as those who had been able to share in the joyous moment, Ceaser posted his proposal on YouTube and forever shamed the Internet. The video of his imaginatively popped question went viral, with everyone from "Good Morning America" to Jezebel.com weighing in on the Muppet couple. In a few short weeks, the video climbed to more than 315,000 views.

Ceaser wed Prindiville in a sunny ceremony at Beaver Brook in Hollis on September 10, 2011. The event was packed with friends, family, inside jokes and, yes, an appearance by their Muppet counterparts. The reception took place at Nashua's Studio 99, where local musicians Java Loce, Ian Ethan and Amy Petty provided music for the happy couple.

"Everybody involved - from the person who owned the reception venue to the people who played the reception - were all our friends," Sara says. "We tried not to focus on too many details, but focused on the idea of what we were doing. It made it all more genuine."

For all who aided and abetted in this Muppet caper, the Ceasers have created a follow-up thank-you video with their Whatnot selves depicting the ceremony and honeymoon.

"We still hear from people from the most unexpected sources and they want to know what happened next," Sid explains. "It's a thank-you to all the people who have been e-mailing."

The sequel and behind-the-scenes video can be viewed by clicking here, and the entire romantic tale can be found in Ceaser's own words at ceaserphotography.com.