Not my cup o’ tea either, but she loved it, and that’s what counts.
He cleaned up the mess, too!
Congratulations to you both!
(Is there something in the water in Denver? My sweetie proposed to me over Christmas, then mlerose’s superhero popped the question, and now you, sciguy…)
I always told my sweetie that proposing to me required two things: 1) my father’s permission (witness the unending battle between my feminism and my passion for tradition!) and 2) it had to be a surprise. I didn’t care if it was public or private, a big romantic production or done after work on a Tuesday, as long as it was a surprise.
Conversely, my sweetie told me that he would never, ever propose on a holiday. He considered it cheap and tacky and too predictable. Ergo, huge surprise when he proposed on Christmas Eve after the Christmas-gift-opening.
I would say the simpler, the better. Some speech is nice, but skip the long speech. Besides, if she’s anything like me (Og help you if she is) she won’t remember any of it anyway. I remember my sweetie reaching into his pocket and going down on one knee, and it all gets kind of fuzzy after that.
Write yourself a note: make sure you pee first.
“He squeed all over the place, and we had to mop it up,” isn’t how you want her describing The Moment for the rest of your life. 
Let’s see; Jim’s proposal was on our first anniversary of the day we met (March 18, 2000), in bed after a day together that had a minor tiff of an argument. Apparently, the small argument made him re-think the whole proposing thing that day, but then he re-thought his re-thinking late in the day. I think he said something like, “Will you marry me?” and my response was something like, “Yes.” I know; we’re incurable romantics. 
Just do it, dude.
Knock Knock
Who’s there?
Will you.
Will you who?
Will you marry me?
I’m not suggesting doing that; I just thought it might make you smile. Good luck bro!
I recommend a limo if you aren’t proposing at home.
I was in no mental state to drive.
She said yes.
Awesome! come back with details when you’re done celebrating.
Congratulations! And I second the call for details!
GT
Congratulations!!!
I knew she would go for it!
Congratulations!! squee!!
Add me to the list waiting patiently for details. 
For those other than sciguy:
This means that if she’s the kind of woman who breaks into hives when walking too close to a Valentine Day’s display, you should not get down on your knee or any of that. And if she’s a private person, you should not propose in a crowded restaurant.
Oh, and please don’t say “I realize you’ve never thought about this” It would take a different species of female, to never think about marriage.
For sciguy:
squeee! I’m so happy for you!
Congrats, sciguy. I’m assuming you didn’t show her this thread. 
Mazel tov, sciguy! Now how about photos of you and your beloved?
Hooray! happy dance for sciguy and his fiancee!
Woohoo!
Squee!
Congratulations, sciguy! Of course we need details, and ASAP, baby.
I proposed to my wife on her birthday, on bended knee in our tiny apartment after dinner at her favorite restaurant. She burst into tears and said immediately yes, so Mission Accomplished ™! We’ve been living in wedded bliss for almost 17 years now, and we wish you and your intended every happiness together, with patience, strength and mutual support for the not-so-good times. Everyone has 'em.
Congratulations!
Squee! Congratulations!
Beautiful choice. And Congratulations! I was going to say just say “I love you, will you marry me?” but it looks like everything worked out fine. Yay!
Phew, was a hectic night. I called my parents and sent email to everyone else (along with a quick post to the SDMB), she was on the phone to her friends / parents / step-parents for a while, her best friend (and now maid-of-honor-in-waiting) came over with a bottle of champagne, and we had a happy evening.
I picked up the ring after work. I got home, and she was sorting through some new clothes she had gone shopping for (she starts a new job next week and needed some more casual options). We decided to go out for dinner to Ted’s, a favorite restaurant of ours. She went off to grab her shoes and jacket, and my brain starting going “NOW! Do it now!”
I palmed the ring, and as she came out I went over to her and gave her a hug and a kiss. “Have I told you lately how much I love you?” She smiled and said “No” (not technically true, but in my experience a woman will accept any situation to hear those three words).
“I love you very, very much, and I wanted to know: will you marry me?”
Her eyes got big, and she choked up a little bit. “Seriously?”
{freeze frame for a second. That “doofus” part of my brain flashed back to the “Manbearpig” episode of South Park that was on recently. It spit out “I’m totally cereal!” (with that slight lisp Al Gore had in the ep) as its recommended response. Fortunately, I had reinforced my mental “appropriateness filter” against this situation}
I hold up the ring and say “I’m serious”.
{unfortunately, the only camera options we’ve got are our cell phones. They don’t focus well on stuff close to the lens, so that’s the best picture I’ve got right now}
She said yes, I put the ring on her, we hugged some more, both teared up a little, and went to dinner. She kept getting distracted by the ring, and spent quite a bit of time admiring it on her finger (go me!). I was a little off on the sizing, it’s about a size too big. She doesn’t have any rings I could’ve borrowed for comparison, so I used my own finger at the jeweler. Our hands are the same size, but her fingers are a bit slimmer than mine. But better too big than too small, at least she can wear it to show it off. We’ll be stopping by tomorrow to get it resized.
And apparently I hadn’t been quite as sneaky as I thought. She told me that for the past week or so she’s been focusing on not biting her nails so her hands look their best for ring presentation. 
After we got home we hit the phones / computer to share the good news.
As far as other details, based on the conversations we had with family the most requested information is:
[ul][li]When’s the wedding? After some discussion between the two of us, our standard answer right now is “a Saturday”. If anyone complains, I’m going to say “Hey, we’ve eliminated 6/7ths of the potential dates, what more do you want this early?” :D[/li][li]Big wedding or small wedding? Dunno. It’s not going to be a church wedding (neither of us are religious), but other than that details are still up in the air. Personally, I’d be ok with going to a justice of the peace with just us and any required witnesses, then throw a big reception party, but I understand that I have very little say in the matter. [/li][*]So, is she pregnant? Ummm…no. More from my family and friends, and never presented as a “serious” question. But given my previous resistence to settling down, I think I can understand the rationale.[/ul] So now I’m just sitting here at work in a nice little bubble of happiness. Hooray!