So she still has that adorable dirt smudge on her nose?
I proposed to my wife on a small little sand bar off the cost of Florida in the Gulf. Her Dad had a house there and we went for a visit. I knew before the trip that I was going to ask her and I had an idea of where I would ask her. I went to WalMart and bought a ring with the smallest little chip of a real diamond in it. I think I paid $25, but I didn’t want to lose a real ring jet skiing around the Gulf with only the tiny pocket of a pair of swim trunks to hold the ring.
So, I stuffed the ring in to my trunks, we went zooming around, checking out dolphins and such. We stopped on the little sandy island and beached the jet ski. We walked around a little and I surreptitiously stuck my hand down my trunks…to retrieve the ring. I said something about what a perfect place it was. I then got down on one knee at the waters edge like I was looking at something in the sand and BAM, hit her with a proposal.
She said yes. I got her a real ring. We got married. Her Dad sold the house in Florida and the jet skis. Haven’t been back since and I doubt that we could ever find the same island among the many anyway, if it is even still there.
Kneeling…Yes
Public…No
Accepted…Yes
Still Married…Yes
Elapsed Time…17 Years
It came off at the bridal shower.
We were watching TV and the idea hit me, as if it had finally matured, so I asked, she said yes and we went back to the show. I couldn’t have gotten on one knee anyway because her son was asleep across our laps.
I proposed on one knee in a hotel room after my squadron Christmas Party one year. I was running the party, however, and in between handing out door prizes and overseeing other stuff, I had to get the ring out of where it was hidden in the car, as well as a bottle of wine from a vineyard that shares my last name, and hide them in the room. My girlfriend at the time was getting highly upset at me because I wasn’t spending any time with her. My proposal began as an apology with me standing up. She wasn’t really listening, so I dropped to one knee, and then she started to listen! She said yes, and our 15th anniversary is at the end of this month.
“So…you’re pregnant?”
I got down on one knee. We were at her favorite beach in the town where she grew up. It was just us and some random dog. I knew that she would say yes and I knew that she would appreciate a traditional proposal.
Very cute
We had been living together for a few years, and had bought property together that we intended to build on. I tend to procrastinate, so she finally said that we should set a date and we did. We just knew that we where going to get married.
No knees for me. I did ask her father’s permission first.
I was in the military at the time and back then you also had to ask permission from your squadron commander. I thought that was strange - maybe if marrying someone overseas as that added complications, but not in the USA. However back then if the military wanted you to have a wife, they would have issued you one.
We were sitting on a rock overlooking Hidden Lake in Glacier Nat’l Park. Had a ring, in a box. It was the last day of our trip and I’d been carrying that thing in my pocket all week, waiting for the right moment. I didn’t take this picture, but that’s exactly what we were looking at at the time, and I figured it wasn’t going to get any better than that.
It was about 11pm in our bedroom and we were both in our pajamas and scruffy looking. We’d had a tiff over something so minor I can’t even remember what it was now - the sort of tiff you apologize over right away and feel glad you both can get past it without any drama. So after some minutes of cuddling on the bed he looks me in the eyes for another minute and says “Will you marry me?”
And that was that. Wouldn’t have it other way. It was actually Valentine’s Day but he didn’t plan that.
I don’t think I would’ve had the guts to propose to him for at least half a year more, but if he didn’t do it eventually I would’ve. There never was a ring. Too broke.
People were either surprised that we bothered to get married (“You didn’t seem traditional…”) or completely unsurprised (“Well, yeah…It was obvious”)
These stories are really quite wonderful.
Thank you all for sharing them.
I did propose on one knee, yes. It had been raining, and she even thought to bring a towel so I wouldn’t get my pant-leg soggy. So, obviously, it wasn’t a surprise. We’d actually planned the date of the proposal to coincide with my parents’ anniversary (we had originally planned to then be married on her parents’ anniversary, though we wound up doing it about 3 months earlier). I didn’t ask permission, but I did ask for her mother’s blessing (her father is deceased). I gave her my mother’s engagement ring.
I’ve never proposed to anyone, but when I eventually do, it’ll be on one knee. I’m a sucker for tradition, that way.
I have no idea whether it will be in public or private.
And if her parents are alive, I will ask for their blessing, but I will not ask for permission.
No kneeling for me either time. First time was sitting on a couch. Second time was standing on the Arlington Memorial Bridge at night, looking out at the Lincoln Memorial.
We were on a park bench, at night. I was visiting her family and we had gone for a walk. When we got back she woke everyone up to tell them.
No bended knee. At some point, we just assumed we would be getting married, but neither of us can say when that point was.
Mine was a couch one, too. The FedEx truck with the ring had come earlier in the day while she was in the shower. I signed for it, hid it, called up her father, explained my intentions, and then proposed to her about an hour later as she was sitting on the couch working on the computer. She seemed a little annoyed at me for interrupting her work at first, but warmed up after she realized what was happening. She did say yes. I don’t think I got on one knee, but I don’t remember. It was all kind of a blur. I had not actually thought at all about what steps were going to follow after getting the ring, so I kind of improvised it. I’m not a planner that way.
She knew I was going to propose – for that matter, she knew I had the engagement ring, as she’d picked it out, and I’d bought it, about 6 weeks earlier. But, just after I bought the ring, she left on a trip with her sister for 3 weeks, and then other things came up. As Captain Jack Sparrow said, I was looking for the opportune moment.
Anyway, we went out for dinner at a very nice restaurant, and then we went back to my apartment. I told her, “I have some things for you.” “Things, plural???”
I gave her a small, flat, wrapped gift. She opened it up, and it contained a baseball card. “Baseball card? I don’t get it.” “Open another one,” I said.
Will (Clark)
I then gave her a box that, in theory, could hold a ring, though it was a little big for that. She opened it, and found that it contained a little ceramic sheep, with a pink bow around its neck. “Baseball and sheep??? I don’t get it!!!” “Open another one.”
ewe
The third gift was a wrapped cassette tape – The Best of Peter, Paul, and Mary. There was an “arrow” sticker stuck to the label, pointing to the last word of the title. “Ohhhhhhh!”
Mary
Then, the fourth gift was a pair of children’s alphabet blocks, a “M” and a “E”, glued together.
At that point, I got down on my knee, and presented her with the ring. 