Me Julie is marrying I

A 26 year-old Canadian geek took out a full page advertisement asking his girlfriend to marry him and then posted her answer on a website.

Dotcom millionaire Jesse Rasch took out the ad in the Toronto edition of the National Post because he wanted to prove to girlfriend Julie Lee that he was serious. "I wanted her to look back on the moment and remember it for the rest of her life," he said.

The ad was in the form of a coupon which urged Julie to "cut along the dotted lines and present to your boyfriend to upgrade your relationship status to ENGAGED.

"Acceptance is guaranteed. Upon successful delivery, a ring will be provided forthwith for you to wear now and forever. Only one entry is permitted. To enter, you must be my girlfriend."

The advert added: "Julie, will you marry me? JR" and had a website address at www.juliesanswer.com to tell well wishers if she had said yes or no. More than 39,285 curious Canadians flooded the site looking for Julie's answer.

"I wanted something that was comic and romantic at the same time. I wanted something that would be memorable and would have enormous impact," Rasch said.

Apparently Lee did not see the ad until early in the afternoon when she returned from a yoga class. "I came home, my parents were screaming, sisters were crying, dogs were barking, everything," she said.

Rasch explained that he received about 1,500 emails posted to an anonymous Hotmail account, about 30 of them "from other women named Julie who said: 'If she says 'No' then here's my address and telephone number'".

By 1.30pm the site confirmed that that Lee had said "yes" but had been delayed from telling Rasch earlier because she had been stopped for speeding on her way to see him.

"When I set about to surprise Julie, I could not have imagined that so many wonderful people, completely unknown to us, would have been so keenly interested in our engagement. It touched us both," he said.