How did you propose?

[Knuckles]

Once I got the words the initial words out it wasn't bad. It only took me 3 hours to screw up the courage to start the conversation while we were working on a project at her parents house. It would have been nice to been all John Wayne about it, but that just wasn't in the cards. Remember this is the woman you love and want to spend the rest of your life. You need to start declaring that some where. That and buy the diamond online. It will save you a ton of money.

[dcb777]

You should definetly ask her father for his blessing. To some families this is pretty important.

[Wynton]

[ QUOTE ]
You should definetly ask her father for his blessing. To some families this is pretty important.

[/ QUOTE ]

I could not bring myself to do this, even though I imagine that her father would have liked it (and even though I knew her brother-in-law did the same thing). I simply could not have pulled it off with sincerity.

But I agree it's a good idea if one can make the gesture earnestly.

[dcasper70]

My wife & I shopped for the ring together, so the whole thing wasn't much of a surprise. When I finally did the proposal thing, I gave her the ring box. Her eyes still lit up and she was all giddy.
When she opened it, it was empty. At least I had some sort of surprise in the process...

And got her parent's blessing a few weeks prior. They picked up the whole wedding tab.

[Barcalounger]

We'd been dating for 6 years, Valentine's Day was kind of like our anniversary, so she was pretty sure I was going to propose to her then. So I purposely didn't make dinner plans for that night until last minute so we ended up at a crappy restaurant, I showed up late from work, and I gave a pretty bad gift. I told her I'd make it all up to her and we'd spend the next day in Chapel Hill, I'd take her out for a nice lunch, see the planetarium, check out the old used book store that we love, do whatever she wants to do.

Over lunch she starts talking about what books she's going to hunt for at the used book store. She has a couple Jane Austen books on the shelf, so I mention that I read that "Persuasion" by Jane Austen was on some Valentine's list I read of the greatest love stories. Sounds good, and she adds that to the list of what she's gonna look for.

After a nice lunch we went to the planetarium, did up a couple shops, had a nice romantic afternoon, and finally made it to our book store. We're there for awhile, when I find a paperback of "Persuasion" on the bottom shelf and I get down on my knee to get it. I tell her I found it, then open it up and read the inscription inside the front cover, say awww, how romantic, and hand it up for her to read. Inside the cover it says "[her name], my love, will you marry me?" She moves the book to look down at me and say "that's weird" and I have the ring right there.

Three days earlier I made up some excuse to be home late and had driven up to Chapel Hill, found the book, scribbled the proposal inside as neatly as my handwriting gets, and put it on the bottom shelf. And no, I wouldn't have proposed that day if somebody had purchased the book in those three days. That would have been a pretty bad sign.

No father ask for me. He would have just laughed, said "what took you so f'in long", then bust my balls for a couple hours.

[dcb777]

I didn't do this either, but kind of wished I had after the fact.

[DrewDevil]

[ QUOTE ]
knuckles,

what was the plan if the father said "no" ?

[/ QUOTE ]

You ask for the father's blessing, not his permission. Big difference. It is a respectful thing to ask for the blessing, but the father doesn't get to veto the wedding.

I took my wife to Lake Tahoe. It is my favorite place in the world and she had never been before I took her. We took the gondola up to the top of Heavenly and took some pictures of the mountains and the lake.

I excused myself to use the restroom, but really I just grabbed one of the other tourists and explained that I was about to propose, and would she take some pictures as I did it?

So I went back over to where my wife was and said, hey, this girl is going to take our picture. So we smiled at the camera, and then I said, "well, while we're here..." then dropped to a knee and brought out the ring.

She said yes.

Went back to the hotel and [censored] like bunnies, then she went to sleep and I went to Harrah's and won $1,500 in the 2-5 NL game.

It was a good day.

[CletusVanDamme]

She knew I bought the ring almost a week earlier. I was picking her up from work that night, so I spent the day golfing and drinking with friends. I was pretty pickled by the time I picked her up.

We stopped at a city park on the way to her place, and I gave her the ring while we were on the swingset.

[KurtSF]

I didn't. She did.

After a night of drinking we were relaxing at her brother's pad at like 3 in the morning watching Braveheart with some friends. She turns to me and says "If they killed me would you kill all those people?" and without hesitation I say "Of course." She goes upstairs to use the restroom, and, while taking a piss, has what alcoholics refer to as a moment of clarity. She realizes (a) we should get married and (b) she's going to have to make it happen.

There's a balcony overlooking the living room and she motions for me to come upstairs. I go up and she takes my hand, gets down on one knee, and says "Will you marry me?" and without hesitation I say "Of course." We pop into the bedroom for a little of the old in out, then go downstairs and give the news to her brother and friends.

Seven years and going strong.

[daveT]

Ladies, is it neccessary to go through all of this to propose?

My observances have always been that the sister, mother, best freind of the soon to be wife will talk about why you won't get married, almost like the guy is bieng proposed to first.

I almost got married, but it was so she could get a green card, so the pressure was off me for the proposition. But the thought was over-welming. I said okay at first (money was in the deal) and then I changed my mind. Then I changed my mind again, and again, and again.... etc.