Marriage proposal ideas

[place]

So my long term girlfriend and I have talked about getting married many times, and we both know we would like to at some point. Last discussion (about six months ago), we kinda left it at "so, you'll just have to wait for the proposal, eh?". Actually, I have prepare this EDIT. Is it the right size? Hope the size would not be an big issue.
Now, I'm probably not going to run off after this discussion and propose for the sake of the people in this thread, but I would be interested in hearing the story of your successful/failed marriage proposal, or hearing a few ideas on how you might go about it. I'm not really a sky writing or sporting stadium scoreboard type fellow, but I'd like to do something a wee bit special.
Does it have to do with the attitude or something?

[ImaWestie]

It should be meaningful to the two of you.
Which means whatever the rest of us have to say, it probably won't mean much.

You haven't rushed into it, so if you can do a dinner, night out, go somewhere neither of you have to clean up afterwards, and pop the question at the appropriate moment... the question is really, would your intended prefer it to be a private intimate moment, or a public "OMG look at me I'm being proposed to" moment? Which either means you do it in the restaurant, or the motel room afterward.

[Oblio13]

Just have her sign a pre-nup and a suicide note.

[Angus Young]

If you're happy as you are why change things? You could save yourself a lot of time and stress by just finding someone you hate and buying them a house.

p.s. Don't let people like me with bad experiences put you off. Good luck to you both.

[RDPOE]

FWIW, I just got engaged this week. My fiance and I have been dating for 2.5 years and knew we were right for each other long before that. We both came from past engagements that were a case of being young(er) and stupid/immature.

I had things all planned out but they fell through the week before, so I ended up doing something intimate. Last Valentines Day, I raided her "memory" box and made a scrapbook with our pictures, notes, concert tickets, etc. for her. This Valentines Day (yeah, I did it then...) I made two more pages and put them at the end. One was of all the places we used to go when we started dating, and the other had gorgeous pictures of the ring (I highly recommend www dot whiteflash dot com, PM me if you want more info).

We sat on the couch before dinner and ate some strawberries and had some champagne while we looked through the scrapbook and talked about our life together. When we got to what she thought was the last page, I told her I had added a couple more (she wasn't even suspicious at this point). We got the the last page and she was speechless; I did the one knee, etc and she just cried, haha. It was sweet and intimate, but she's not a showy girl. It fit our relationship and her, and I think that's what is most important.

Good luck!

Pic of the ring:

[Jethro1984]

FWIW, I just got engaged this week. My fiance and I have been dating for 2.5 years and knew we were right for each other long before that. We both came from past engagements that were a case of being young(er) and stupid/immature.

I had things all planned out but they fell through the week before, so I ended up doing something intimate. Last Valentines Day, I raided her "memory" box and made a scrapbook with our pictures, notes, concert tickets, etc. for her. This Valentines Day (yeah, I did it then...) I made two more pages and put them at the end. One was of all the places we used to go when we started dating, and the other had gorgeous pictures of the ring (I highly recommend www dot whiteflash dot com, PM me if you want more info).

We sat on the couch before dinner and ate some strawberries and had some champagne while we looked through the scrapbook and talked about our life together. When we got to what she thought was the last page, I told her I had added a couple more (she wasn't even suspicious at this point). We got the the last page and she was speechless; I did the one knee, etc and she just cried, haha. It was sweet and intimate, but she's not a showy girl. It fit our relationship and her, and I think that's what is most important.

Good luck!

Now that, gentlemen, is brilliant. Well done sir!

[bradyarz]

my wife watched blood diamond before we were married and decided she wanted nothing to do with diamonds. her engagement ring is a sterling band with "i am my beloved's" around one half and "my beloved is mine" around the other.

she was living in oregon at the time and i was finishing school at penn state. (we dated for 3 or 4 months before she left for oregon, then dated long distance for a year.) i flew out for the weekend and we went to the coast. i set up the camera and told her we were going to take some shots of us with the timer so as to get the waves in the background. after 3 or 4 shots or so i went back and set the camera to video (without her knowledge). as she was waiting for the flash to go off, i got down on one knee and popped the question. i got the whole thing on video, and i was able to pull some pretty good stills from the 2 minutes or so of footage.

just had our 2 year anniversary last month.

[valaru]

It was Halloween, and I put the ring in a smarties* Halloween box.

and said here.

(*smarties are like m&ms except they come in boxes, not bags)

proposal successful, marriage was not. I wasn't ready to be married, but it sounds like you are, so good luck and mazel tov.

[_MementoMori_]

I don't think I even proposed to my wife. We dated for five years, and it was just kind of an unspoken understanding that we would get married. I know that sounds strange, but that's how I remember it.

I gave her my grandmother's wedding ring, and we got married at the courthouse in some dude's office... in front of a flickering CRT monitor and underneath a water stained drop ceiling.

It's not about the ring, the proposal, the ceremony, the honeymoon, or any of that. It's about the relationship. We've been married eight years now and our relationship is as strong if not stronger than the day we met.

[Wilpar76]

I am a little old school. Yes, my wife and I knew we were soulmates and had started ring shopping. Unfortunately, her father passed away during our first year when we were dating. When I was ready, I took her mother out to lunch and asked her for her daughter's hand in marriage. I was sincere, but I earned some coool points along the way which didn't hurt either.

I had a ring made (without going under financially :))

But I told her that there were delays in the making of the ring. She thought it wouldn't be ready for a couple months, but I already had the ring. After an evening with my family, we had the house to ourselves. After some small talk to get out my jitters, I got down on one knee and popped the question.

I told her I needed her more than I wanted her, and that I wanted her for the rest of all time. And then I asked if she would give me the honor, privilege and pleasure of being my wife. That was seven years ago and still going strong.

Good luck.

[stobes21]

My then long term girlfriend wanted to use an heirloom ring that had belonged to her grandmother. So I took the money I would have spent on the ring an bought a trip for the two of us to a beach resort in mexico. I proposed on the beach at sunset. It was very pretty and nice without being too over the top.

[hifigeezer]

my wife watched blood diamond before we were married and decided she wanted nothing to do with diamonds. her engagement ring is a sterling band with "i am my beloved's" around one half and "my beloved is mine" around the other.

+1

Jewelry in general and diamonds in particular are one thing where regular folks have no idea what is reasonable pricing. The jewelry industry tries to brainwash you into thinking it is "customary" to spend a certain amount or you are a cheapskate. I would just say don't let them push your buttons; ask your fiancee what is important to her; if it's a certain ring that's fine. Some women would be offended if you shop carefully; some would be mad if you don't!


Last year I was on vacation in Seattle and we had lunch on top of the Space Needle. While we were there a small plane came by towing a sign that said: "Joan Smith will you marry me"? It circled the building for several minutes. Now that was cool! You might have to be a Microsoft VP to afford it...

Congratulations and best wishes.

[redoleary]

My wife and I were on a backpacking long weekend trip and I kept dragging her all over the place looking for "the spot" of course she had no idea what was about to happen. So when I found the place I posed her on some rocks and took some pictures, then when I went over to re-pose her, I sort of took a knee and pulled the ring out and asked her. It went a little smoother in my head than it probably sounded out loud, but she said yes all the same.

[RDPOE]

my wife watched blood diamond before we were married and decided she wanted nothing to do with diamonds.

This is something to consider. If a diamond isn't important to her, certainly skip it. I think for most women it is a traditional thing, and they would feel disappointed if they didn't get one, especially if they haven't specifically said, "don't get me a diamond ring."

I made sure to do my research, and the company I bought from (see my first post) guarantees that its diamonds are conflict free. Maybe take that with a grain of salt, but I believe them.

Also, buy online! There are so many good, reputable dealers out there it just doesn't make sense to go to a B&M store and pay 20-30% higher prices, usually for lesser quality! My ring was independently appraised (for insurance reasons) at nearly $3000 more than I bought it for (more than 50% more than my purchase price)

[mtsgsd]

Knowing some of the history of De Beers and how they actually CREATED the market for diamonds besides actually having a monopoly, we stay away from them. Frankly both the wife and I think they're boring anyway. :)

De Beers is the one that made diamonds the traditional engagement/wedding ring thru marketing. They weren't all the popular until they started their PR campaign.

Even better for me, she prefers lab-created emeralds. Stronger, and cheaper than the real thing. :)

[RDPOE]

All other topics aside, I encourage the OP to do something that has a sentimental meaning for his girlfriend. It doesn't have to be something big or expensive, like a trip to Paris, to be special. Knowing that you put some time, thought and effort into it will make it memorable for her! Try to imagine her telling her friends about it.

Good luck, keep us updated when it happens!

[SalvadorMontenegro]

I think you gotta do this one entirely on your own.

[maxman]

Here's what I did.
My wife liked to go hiking a fair bit. She lived out in the country and had lots of room to roam around on hiking trails and whatnot.
So one summer day, we went for a hike up a mountain. It's a smallish mountain and an easy hike.
I had the ring with me in my wallet. We got to the top no problems.
I suggested we play a game of "I Spy" of all the places we have been together. The person guessing has to explain what we did there, &c.
We did that for a while and I gave a hint that lead us to where we were, on top of the mountain. At that point, I got down on one knee and proposed.
She said yes.

I have two pieces of advice for you.
1. This is all about her as is the wedding and all the parties that go along with this whole adventure. Consider planning it around what she likes or what you like to do together. I'm fat. I obviously don't hike. But she does and so we did.
2. If you decide to do it on top of a mountain, remember that if she says no, then the long walk down will be very uncomfortable.......

It worked out for us. It was a great day and a great story to tell.
We're going on 2.5 years now and have a wonderful baby girl.

Congratulations and good luck!

[ouch]

If you get a good enough ring, it's only going to stay in the vault anyway.

[Doc4]

Hope the size would not be an big issue.

Nope ... not gonna do it.