Mob scene: Aurora grad proposes to girlfriend on national television

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Adam Welton and Samantha Arzuaga

Updated: March 11, 2012 8:37AM

Impending plans to move to Los Angeles had Aurora native Adam Welton planning to propose to his girlfriend — and soon.

So on Tuesday’s “Anderson” television show with Anderson Cooper, Welton popped the question in New York City with the help of a flash mob and celebrity Howie Mandel.

“I’m going to be moving to L.A. this fall, and I need this girl to come with me. Period,” the 26-year-old Welton said in a segment that aired on FOX. “I love her so much, please, Mr. Anderson, let’s work something out.”

And Anderson Cooper did.

Samantha Arzuaga, 20, said the trip to New York didn’t seem out of the ordinary, as Welton told her it was a birthday surprise.

“It’s my birthday,” she told Mandel on the show, as a puzzled look formed on her face — and all of the audience members around her began dancing.

The dancers revealed signs that read “Will you marry me?” and motioned like they were opening a ring box.

Before Welton even asked the actual question, she screamed, “Yes! Yes! I’m getting married!”

Although Welton said in the TV segment he’s from Chicago, the pair is very much from Aurora — Welton graduated from East Aurora High School and Arzuaga from Waubonsie Valley High.

A 2004 graduate of East, Welton was homecoming king, senior class president and played lead in school plays. In 2006, Welton completed a college internship as a comedy writer for the “Stephen Colbert Show” on Comedy Central.

Welton, self-proclaimed big fan of Anderson Cooper, said when he saw that the show was looking for people who wanted to propose in a big way, he knew he had to apply. He sent in a submission video and things moved fast from there, he said.

“We are genuinely in love, and I’m so happy I could propose in this way,” he said.

The show flew the couple out, and the actual proposal was taped on Jan. 30. Producers told Welton not to tell anyone, but he knew there was one person he’d need to let in the loop.

“I didn’t even tell my (five younger) brothers,” Welton said. “But she always said, ‘I need you to ask my dad if you are going to propose.’ So I did ask him beforehand for permission.”

Arzuaga said she had no idea she’d be getting engaged in New York, much less on national television.

“We would talk about getting engaged. I would joke around that I wanted to be asked in downtown Chicago; we had our first date at Navy Pier,” Arzuaga said. “We knew it was going to happen, just not this soon. I was speechless.”

Welton met Arzuaga through his younger brother, Kyle.

“She’s been friends with my family for the last two years,” Welton said. “I was in school, but timing was God’s blessing.”

The couple will spend Valentine’s Day apartment- and job-hunting in Los Angeles. After having graduated from Northwestern University in theater in 2008, Welton is planning a career as a standup comedian. Arzuaga is planning to transfer schools; she had been attending College of DuPage