Love is a beautiful thing. These couples share the charming story behind the day they popped the question.
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A Christmas to Remember
“As long as I can remember Christmas has been my favorite day of the year. I think a big role in that is because it was the only time of year my family didn’t fight about money and other things. I mean I used to cry on Christmas night because I was sad it was over. And I didn’t get truckloads of gifts, my family was quite poor for a family of 5 (although I feel weird saying that because we did have a roof over our heads and food always).
Anyway, that’s enough backstory. So my future husband and I have been discussing marriage for over a year now. His family was acting super suspicious on black Friday, keeping me away from my future husband at the mall and taking turns ‘watching’ me.
So Christmas morning comes. my future husband is adamant that we don’t exchange our stockings or yearly ornaments until the end of the morning. We open all of our gifts at his family’s house and then get showered and ready for the day. Once everyone is showered, we get back into the living room to finish up stockings and then our ornaments.
I take a few presents out of my stocking and then I grab one and my future husband says ‘oh! that’s your ornament!’ I began unwrapping it and then noticed his hand in the couch cushions. I thought that was kind of strange. Opened the bubble wrap and the ornament was a ring that said ‘Engaged!’ I gave my future husband the most confused face. He pulls a box from under the cushion and goes on one knee in front of me.
I awkwardly ask ‘Am I supposed to stand?’ and he says, ‘If you want to!’
Then the weirdest thing happened in that I kinda blacked out and didn’t hear a word he said until he got to, ‘Will you marry me?’ and without a moment’s hesitation, I said yes.
We then had a champagne toast with his family and thankfully his sister recorded the whole proposal so I was able to rewatch and see what he said.
It was super sweet and he chose the perfect ring. And I think this is literally the ONLY year that I haven’t been depressed after Christmas. I haven’t even bothered to take down our decorations yet.”
A Very Special Date
“Background: I was always very close to my Grandma, who had to go into a nursing home in 2013 after a series of strokes. She died two years later. The strokes left her unable to speak, but she was a big animal lover and was always able to express her joy when a group of dogs visited the nursing home. They were specially trained dogs who visit care homes and schools for children with special needs performing little shows and just generally hanging out. Basically, they provided my Grandma with some comfort and some positive memories of that time for me. They were also with my Grandma the last time I saw her before she died.
The proposal… One Saturday a few months ago we moved into our new house, then a couple of days later we took a trip to our old place to do a clean and grab the last of our stuff before handing back our keys. SO was keen to ‘have a relaxed day exploring’ our new area but I insisted on going back to the flat to get the cleaning out of the way. Roll on a few hours and SO is keen to return back to the house. I was up for more hoovering and letting him go ahead. He eventually persuaded me to leave, insisting that he would finish off everything in the flat later in the week. After arriving at the house SO says he has a surprise for me in the lounge. I open the door and there are the six dogs who used to visit my Grandma, all kitted out in mini tuxes/bow ties (apart from the one girl, who had a tutu and a fake rose in her mouth). One of the dogs stood on his hind legs pushing a trolley. SO gets down on one knee and pulls a ring from the trolley. As a happy coincidence SO proposed on what would have been my Granddad’s birthday, which I’m sure would have pleased my Grandma greatly. We’re now getting married on their anniversary.”
The Epitome of Grace and Class
“We bought the ring together on December 15th, 2016–our sixth dating anniversary. Then, my future husband hid it from me, and I tried my best to be patient until he proposed. I think I drove him kind of nuts in the interim.
He proposed at our friend’s New Year’s Eve party, right at midnight. I remember turning around to look for him at 11:59. He was busy messing around with champagne glasses at the bar with his friend, so he gave me the ‘wait a second’ finger when I tried to wave him over for a midnight kiss. Guys, if you’re looking for a real quick way to piss off your lady, tell her to ‘wait a minute’ at 11:59 on New Year’s Eve. I was not a happy camper in that moment.
Turns out he was trying to put the ring in the glass without anyone noticing. He brought over two glasses, handed me one, and said ‘will you…damn it!’ got down on one knee, took my hand, and finished the sentence. I said yes, fished the ring out of the champagne, kissed him, and then grabbed my best friend to scream about what just happened. It was wonderful. Our friend photographed everything.
The future husband was the DD, so I, uh…drank a lot in celebration. To the extent that we had to pull over so I could put my head between my knees on the drive home. I got to show my ring off to the cop who pulled over to check on us–first thing he said was ‘is she okay?’, to which I responded by throwing up my left hand and screaming ‘YES! I’M ENGAGED!’ I am the epitome of class and grace.”
A Very Casual Proposal!
“Okay, this is my story – I’m male.
I’d decided that I wanted to marry her, and bought a ring that I knew she would absolutely love. She loves shopping, so I suggested that we take a trip to go to Edinburgh to go shopping – I know how much she loves Edinburgh too.
We decided to take the train, as it’s a three-hour drive. It was October – I was wearing a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and a sweater. That’s important, because I carried this ring, in its ring box, in my jeans all day, and managed to keep it concealed by strategic placing of the sweater. That was difficult.
We spent the whole day shopping, wandering around the park, buying stuff, sightseeing, etc.
Our return ticket was booked for 9 pm. It got to 7, and we decided to eat. We didn’t want anything flashy, so opted for Pizza Hut.
I suggested that we go for a final stroll through the park before heading back to the station for the train.
We wander through and get to the bandstand. My idea was to propose in the bandstand, but there were kids in there.
So we wander a bit further and get to a bench. I motion to sit down, and she says, ‘Why?’ I said, ‘Let’s just sit for a bit.’
So she sits, and I pretend that my lace is loose, bend down, on one knee, pull out the ring, pop the question.
Cue gobsmacked looks, followed by ‘Yes’, followed by hugs and kisses.
Result!
Been married five years now.
That’s my story.”
Okay, So Maybe Not The Fairytale Ending…
“We were high school sweethearts, went to college together, and dated for six years. We were both finally out of school and she was finishing her post-grad, I was almost done with my two-year training program at work and we had just signed a one-year lease to live together. The timing was perfect
I had saved up a rainy day fund for several years for us to go on a trip to her favorite place, Disney World. My plan was to surprise her with the trip two weeks before we left and then surprise her again on the Disney property and pop the question in front of the castle really late at night in the Magic Kingdom.
We get there, have a great time, and on the second day (t-minus six hours or so before the proposal) she seems distant and weird. Since it’s hard to be sad in DISNEY WORLD, I decide we should talk it out in the hotel room. In the hotel, I discover the reason she is sad is that she regrets signing the lease with me and admits she’s been sort of out of love with me for several years but didn’t have the courage to break it off.
She breaks up with me on the second day of our seven-day trip, a few hours before my planned proposal. I hide the ring, but later tell her what my intentions were and she gets really upset, but it’s too late.
I spend the rest of the time going to the parks by myself or awkwardly riding rides with her. We go back, and I move into our new apartment by myself. Haven’t seen her since July.
I returned the ring and bought an LCD HDTV and an XBOX 360.”
Lovebirds
“For my 30th birthday, he told me we were going to the aquarium (I love the zoo and the aquarium, we go to both several times a year), and then a quiet romantic dinner, just the two of us. We get to the aquarium and as we’re walking to the door he says, “surprise, your birthday gift is we’re doing the penguin encounter (basically you pay more and get to go in the penguin enclosure, talk to the trainers/caretakers, and after getting to 1-on-1 play with a penguin) at 3:30.” I was super excited because we’ve never done that, it’s a little pricey. So we wander the aquarium, feed the rays, and go meet the penguins!
We go into the penguin enclosure and spend like 30min and then the trainer tells us we’re going to do our 1-on-1, so we go to a separate space and she’s telling us all about how it’s mating season so the penguin (Kevin) keeps trying to take things back to his mate to build their nest… and he’s trying to take shoelaces and scarves and being downright adorable. She goes on about their training and tells us about how they trained the penguins to bring them things… so she takes Kevin out of the room a moment and he comes back in wearing a bowtie. The bowtie says, “Marry me?” He’s got down on one knee, I was so wrapped up in looking at the penguin I didn’t even notice him on one knee.
The second trainer there videotaped the whole thing and took photos as well. Mike (FH) was so nervous he was practically shaking. I was speechless and maybe cried a little.
Afterward, we went out to dinner… and as we walk into the restaurant I see 8 of our close friends around a table. So it ended up being a surprise 30th birthday/engagement party. Where everyone rubbed it in my face that they knew for MONTHS he was going to ask. My entire family knew, my friends knew… he designed the ring with a little help from a friend and a recommended jeweler. Apparently, he took like 6 trips out to this place over the course of like 2 months (45min away) and I never knew (and we live together). He picked up the ring in Sept/Oct and proposed 12/11/16.
I’m sure we all feel this way… but my ring is the most perfect, gorgeous ring I’ve ever seen in my life. I couldn’t have been more surprised and delighted.”
That’s When She Started Getting Suspicious
“We’d talked about the topic a few times and I’d previously mentioned that my uncle knows a really good diamond jeweler… Then one weekend he stayed at my place and he said he was going to the gym for a bit with my uncle, which he’d done a few times before so it was nothing suspicious.. until he was gone for about three hours.
So getting worried I checked to find my friends on the iPhone (before you judge me, he initiated the whole find my friends thing.) And it pinpointed him exactly in the jewelry quarters because the idiot forgot to turn it off haha, so after that, I had a good idea. A few weeks past and I kept asking when he was gonna ask me and he said he wanted it to be a surprise.
It was coming towards our anniversary so I thought maybe that could be the date! But about a week or two before, we were at his place going into his room to play Xbox. Now his TV is fickle to get working so I was just about to shout a load of abuse at the TV set when he’s rooting around in the top of his wardrobe, clumsily extracting a small black box and awkwardly nearly dropping it by kneeling on one knee and asking to marry me! Completely surprised because it was such a random moment. Walked out of his bedroom and his aunt and uncle was also staying for the weekend, had a bottle of champagne out and ready to be open and cards etc and it was so sweet and cute that all of his family knew and were celebrating:)
Apparently, he had a super cute plan all thought out for our anniversary in the cinema we first dated at, but his ‘best friend’ ruined it.
but I wouldn’t change the proposal I had for the world!”
A Sweet Story
“’Wake up!’ I said as I shook him.
‘What’s wrong?’ he slowly opened his eyes.
‘I can’t sleep.’ I said and lay my head on his chest.
‘Is something bothering you? You can talk to me about it.’ he said in a sleepy voice, caressing my hair.
‘Mum called yesterday….She said she has mailed me pictures of prospective grooms and wants me to choose. What do I do?’
‘You don’t have to do anything. I’ll choose the guy for you.’
‘Shut up! I’m serious. How do I tell her about us? I’m so scared.’
‘We’ll think about it tomorrow. Now go to sleep.’ he said kissing my forehead before hugging me tightly.
‘Hey babe! You up?’ he said turning back from his desk/
‘Is the mail here?’ I asked rubbing off sleep from my eyes.
‘Yeah. Quick question: Who sends mail these days? Hint: Only your mum.’
‘I’m scared, okay? Tell me what do we do now?’
‘I say we look at the pictures and marry you off to the hottest guy. What say?’
‘Be serious, okay?’
‘Sorry babe. I was just trying to lighten your mood.’
‘I know.’ I said as I sat down on his lap and put my arms around him,’But this is serious okay? I don’t wanna lose you. I love you.’
‘I don’t wanna lose you either but someone has to keep cracking jokes so that you don’t die of a panic attack.’
‘No one can die of a panic attack.’
‘You’re getting non-serious.’ he said smiling his crooked smile.
‘Ugh! You’re so annoying sometimes.’
‘Shall we do this?’ he said holding a scissor close to the seal of the mail.
‘Let’s do this!’
He cut open the mail and took out a bunch of photographs.
‘We sort them out and list the shortcomings of each and every guy and explain them to mum later on.’ I said, making a game strategy.
‘Ooh! Some of them are really hot. You sure you don’t wanna marry anyone of them.’
‘Be serious.’
‘Okay. Okay. I’ll get a notebook.’ he said getting up.
He went into the bedroom and I could hear him while he opened drawers to find a notebook. I started sorting out the pictures when I saw a familiar face among them.
I froze as I held that picture in my hand. It was him. The guy I was in love with. The guy was making a mess in his bedroom while finding a stupid notebook.
No sooner did I get up and turn around to show it to him than I saw him kneeling on one knee holding out a gorgeous ring.
‘Turn it over.’ he said.
I turned over his photograph to find the words Will you marry me? written on it. My heart started racing. My mind started dancing with happiness.
‘Yes!’ I exclaimed.
He got up and we started kissing.
‘How did you get mum to do this? How did you tell her about us? Wasn’t she mad? What about papa? Does he know?’ I bombarded him with questions as soon as we stopped kissing.
‘Your mum is a great lady and also a fabulous actor. She trusted me when I told her that I loved you. And turns out that your dad is really afraid of your mum and also he likes tall muscular guys who are nice and sweet. He wanted to marry his daughter off to one. I just made his job easy.’
‘I love you!’ I said as I jumped upon him to kiss him.”
She Beat Him To The Punch
“I started working on a plan almost a year before, we’re both rather nerdy and she is really into Zelda so for her birthday (May) I bought her a heart piece necklace, then for our anniversary (July) I got her heart piece earrings bringing her total number of heart pieces to three. My plan was to get her a fourth so she could have another heart (wink, wink) and then ask her to marry me.
In early December I managed to get a heart piece key chain and the ring (with the Kokiri emerald). Unfortunately, she manages a chocolate shop that does around $2 million in sales in December and I didn’t want to stress her out extra (even if it was for something good), so I decided to wait until January.
I was itching to pop the question so I decided to do it at breakfast on New Year’s Day (we were already living together).
So we woke up lat the next day and as we’re laying in bed cuddling she looks at me and says
‘Will you marry me?’
I stayed silent because I wasn’t sure if she was actually asking or just being romantic and lovey, but then
‘Seriously, I’m asking for real, will you marry me?’
So I told her to hang on for a second and ran to the closet to grab the ring and keychain from where I’d stashed them.
I guess this is technically not the story of me proposing but dang she only beat me by two hours.”
Everything In The Right Place
“I started planning for a surprise beach proposal on our July trip the January/Feb before. Since it was on the other side of the country, I had her retired parents and our friends on the coast help coordinate.
In the spring, her parents helped scope out a good spot, and I got everyone in on a plan to surprise her. Then in July, we all arrived at the beach house for our usual summer vacay.
We had props (tall hooks holding stained glass lanterns, and yellow paper lamps (her favorite color), so her brother-in-law and I decided to misdirect her while we got set up. He told her that her sister was sad no one could make it to her bday and they were going to get cupcakes to surprise her. In the meantime, we all headed down to the beach (a friend was a videographer so that helped).
Her parents also hung back to walk with her slowly to the spot.
We set up on the bottom of a stairway entrance where she couldn’t see us but her tall father could be seen by us at the bottom. Her brother-in-law had run ahead because we were ‘playing football’ and needed an extra person. Finally, her parents and she started heading our way and when we saw her dad’s head it was our signal.
We had a Bluetooth speaker playing a Sigur Ros song (her fav band) and our friends were lining the sides of a path along the beach holding the paper lanterns. I was at the end between the stained glass lanterns.
When she walked around the corner and saw all of us standing there obviously waiting for her, she dropped to the ground covering her mouth in shock. Immediately crying and too excited to speak. She hugged her parents and walked towards me, both of us were crying like crazy, I got on one knee and told her she was my best friend and then asked her if she would also be my wife. She said yes, everyone cried a lot, and a group of people/strangers that had amassed behind us started clapping and cheering.
Good times.”