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Hoboken Man Proposes To Girlfriend Inside Liberty Science Center's Touch Tunnel

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- A young couple from Hoboken took the trip of a lifetime through the Liberty Science Center's famous Touch Tunnel exhibit.

In the pitch-black 80-foot tunnel, 29-year-old Vincent Brandonisio placed a ring on girlfriend Toni-Anne Barone's finger.

"I've had the ring since July-ish," he said. "She had an idea when I got the ring, and I just wanted to make it a surprise."

Brandonisio said the idea came to him during their drives from Hoboken to Staten Island, where they always passed by the museum.

"I always would say to him 'I really want to go back, I haven't been there, I love those kinds of hands-on museums,'" Barone said.

With the help of the Liberty Science Center's event staff, Brandonisio planned to have the lights turn on inside the tunnel, revealing him kneeling among rose petals and holding out the ring.

"I was really surprised it actually went off without a hitch," he said. "The biggest thing for me was that she actually went in."

It took some convincing for Barone to crawl inside. She doesn't have the best grade-school memories from the pitch-black passageway.

"I freaked out when I was inside of it and someone had to pull me out and I couldn't finish," she recalled. "I was going down a list of questions -- Is it ventilated? How wide are the tunnels? And how long am I going to be in there for?"

But after emerging with a stunning piece of jewelry and a partner for life, she couldn't be happier she braved the tunnel one more time.

"He's my best friend, I couldn't picture my life without him," she said.

The couple met over a decade ago in high school but reconnected only three years ago. They hope to be married next December.

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