Two devoted ice cream lovers, Hannah West Nover and Brandon Hautt, starred in a minor social media sensation over the weekend when Hautt proposed to West Nover via Underground Creamery’s ordering website.
Hautt, 32, tells CultureMap he initially intended to propose to West Nover, 30, on vacation earlier this fall. When the trip got canceled at the last minute, he needed to come up with a new plan.
“Our reputation [with our friends] is to have Underground Creamery,” Hautt explains. The couple takes their ice cream seriously.
“We have a spreadsheet to track our expenses. One of the items is Underground Creamery,” West Nover says. “We always have at least five pints in the freezer. During the derecho and Hurricane Beryl, the main concern when the power went out was finding a home for the ice cream.”
After three years of dating, the couple had been talking about taking the next step. Even though they love dining, West Nover told Hautt she didn’t want him to propose at a restaurant. “I didn’t want people around,” she says. “I didn’t want people forced to clap.”
Friends encouraged Hautt to contact Deleon via email. “He responded two or three minutes later. He was into it from the start,” Hautt says. Working with Deleon, Hautt provided a picture of the couple and the text of a proposal.
Courtesy of Hannah West Nover and Brandon Hautt
Hannah West Nover and Brandon Hautt as photographed at the Underground Creamery pickup window.
At their townhouse on Saturday afternoon, West Nover was getting impatient. She was ready to grab lunch after a workout, but Hautt was stalling. He didn’t want to leave until they’d ordered their weekly ice cream. Since she’s the one with the Instagram account, Hautt handed West Nover her phone to look at the week’s flavors and decide what to buy.
When she — and all of the ice cream shop’s customers — loaded the order page on Saturday, she encountered two flavors and an item that read “Let’s get married” along with a photo of the couple. Instead of the usual “Vanilla bean ice cream with salted caramel” description for an Underground flavor, the text read “Hannah, I love you. Will you marry me?”
We’ll let West Nover take it from here:
“I pull up Hotplate [Underground’s ordering platform]. I can see two ice creams and my picture. “Why is my picture on here?’ I look up and there’s Brandon. He’s on one knee pulling the ring out,” she says. “It’s hard to surprise me. Truly a 100 percent surprise, I did not see this coming at all. He did an excellent job.”
As for Deleon, he’s happy he got to help make a memory for two loyal fans of his work, but don’t expect a rash of proposals via his website.
“It’s never been done before. I don’t think it’s ever going to happen again. We’re a company of one-offs. These two are f—ing legends, and I wanted to make it happen for them,” he says. “It was a cool way to end the year. An Underground Creamery proposal wasn’t on my bingo card.”
The couple hasn’t yet decided when they’ll get married. West Nover’s got some bridesmaid responsibilities slated for 2025, so the wedding might be a year or more away.
“We think we’re probably going to elope,” West Nover says with a laugh. “We’re trying to plan a trip to New Zealand. These are just concepts of a plan.”
Regardless of when and where the wedding takes place, we know they’ll celebrate with a pint or two from Underground Creamery.
