Invited her family and her down to my dad's for spring break. She was in Dallas, I was in Houston area... When they came to dinner on the 3rd night of the trip, I waited until everyone was in the room, and got my dad to get a picture of all of us... (her parents, aunt & uncle, 2 sisters and her cousin along with her and I)... they didn't know I already had the ring box in my hand, and I had it flashed behind my back to the side in the picture. Right after that picture snapped, I gave my speech to her, about her, in front of the whole family.. then got down on one knee, presented her the ring box, had her open it -tears in her eyes- she said "yes" and know it's been 8 years, a month, and 6 or so days. She never knew it would be that night. She expected it that Friday or Saturday at a restaurant or something, but it was a Tuesday in the personal living room of my family's home. That was the official "ring" proposal. We'd actually had the first "yes" to my question under the big tree (century tree?) at A&M one weekend while we visited the bonfire in '95...
In the evening, my g/f (now wife) and I were walking on the beach, picking up shells. We talking about how great it had been to be together all week. I wrote, "Will You Marry Me" in the sand, and opened my hand to show her a pile of shells with the ring in the middle.
Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand?? Let me guess - you-all had a patron by the name of Columbus at one time in your lives.
I proposed at the Museum of Natural Science in the Gem section. Not only was it my girlfriends favorite section of the museum anyway, but it had the whole "you like these gems, how about this one" feel and, the spotlights in there seriously made the thing sparkle. Plus, I had a note that I had written. Then we went to the Cockrell Butterfly exhibit and all these butterflies started landing on us and all these people started clapping and throwing money at us. Ok, so I made the last part up.
I proposed to my wife in the court yard at pat obrians in New Orleans on her birthday 2 months after we met. She said yes. Later discussions were had and she admitted she wasn't ready. I returned the ring. We lived together 7 years, bought a house together, then one evening over Margaritas at Spanish Flowers we decided it was time to get married. We've been happily married 5 years this Oct 22nd and have a beautiful 4 year old girl and a 2 year old boy. Good luck
I had the ring in a bowl of guacamole at a Mexican restaurant. My wife would from time to time jokingly tell me to do that, never thinking I really would. So I did! It was funny to watch her dip a chip in the bowl only to find a ring in there!
I was going to vegas on a business trip, and I asked my wife "Do you want to go to vegas with me, and get married" Obviously I knew what the answer would be. We knew we would end up married with 30 days of knowing each other.
Last August, we went to Orlando for vacation. Went to Universal Studios, stayed in a fancy hotel, and on the evening of Aug. 2nd, went to Cocoa Beach and proposed to my wife while the sunset was going down. Beat that suckas!
I like this one... did she have any particular liking of that painting? I do like the idea of the situation in which you are walking around and you randomly see the painting, be it in a shop, book, movie... and you can think of when you got engaged. Hmmm.... I want to do something special that has to do with her... I'm not sure what, though. After what Jeff's said I really do want to make it special as I want her to remember it for the rest of her life as something beautiful.
Um, did you catch that one where he proposed in a Claude Monet painting. It made me cry with heartfelt sincerity. "There is no emoticon for what I'm feeling"
had dinner in the restaurant in the castle at Disneyworld..they brought out a dessert tray with a glass slipper on it. i grabbed the slipper off of the tray, got down on a knee, and pulled the engagement ring out, asking her to marry me. it worked. it worked even better when she heard a stranger telling the story to a friend, second-hand. i was a freaking hero for the day.
At 19, I am by no means ready to propose or get married. But, my aunt recently got married and was proposed to in a very interesting way... the guy got the ring, and a BOX of Cracker Jacks (not a bag). He took a razor blade knife and carefully opened the box, put the ring in the bottom of the box as the "prize". He sealed the box back up (used a bit of glue I think), and shared the box with my aunt later. She got to the bottom, took out the ring, and that was it...oh and of course she said yes.
My friend and his girlfriend, now wife, liked to play with toys. The more sophisticated versions of kids' toys (and Pokemon, and watching Veggie Tales... and they were in their 20's. but whatever floats their boat.) He built some complicated structure out of "K'Nex", which are these interlocking parts, and had her take it apart until she found the ring inside. Different, anyway.
A good friend of mine had a good story on his. It was one of those situations where both knew the proposal was likely coming, as they had talked heavily about marriage and both wanted it, plus it was Christmas. The g/f was expecting a ring as one of her presents. As a bit of backstory, the previous year he had bought her a nice necklace for Christmas. What he did was do the box withing a box within a box within a box trick. Except in the last box he had.... a necklace. So that when the g/f pulled the necklace out, she thought she had been tricked and, even though she didn't mean to, couldn't keep the irritation out of her voice when she said, "Ohhh, it's ANOTHER necklace." As she pulled the necklace for its holder, the ring was attached to it and realized it wasn't an oversight. I always thought that was a great story. Me personally, I'm thinking heavily of proposing on New Years, right when the year rolls over and the fireworks are going full blast. That way, we can have one of those real hollywood kisses with the explosions in the background.
The best part about proposing on a holiday is to give her the idea that you "really" want to hang out with your bud's on that night. Try to truly piss her off, and get her to come begrudgingly. Then, at 5 til midnight, propose. One of my friends did this, and it was romantic as hell.
I think you should definitely do something that ties in to her interests or her personal history. It will make her feel special, and we all know how important that is. I got a little bit lucky in my situation. My wife was born in England and baptized at Winchester Cathedral. She's got a real fondness for that. Well, a few years into our relationship, and soon after I'd decided I wanted to pop the question, we had an opportunity to take a vacation in England. The rest was easy. I proposed at the Cathedral and she still likes to tell people about how romantic that was (married 5 years last month).
