As I recall, I proposed when we were in bed, so, no going on one knee.
So my wife-to-be was totally panicking because the home pregnancy test came up positive. In my infinite wisdom, I wondered if using the cheaper generic test was a good idea and she suggested that if I want to try it with a name brand, then I can go to the store and buy one. So I did and it showed positive as well (not even needing the full 5 minutes to process and show the results either). Thinking that I’d better be a man about this as well as make sure my child to be wouldn’t be born without a father, I said “Uh, I guess this means we should get married.”
My wife, God bless her replied with “Like hell we are.”
We did get married and I did get her a ring about a year later. That first year with her was very rough moneywise and her fingers were swollen up during the pregnancy so she said that she didn’t even want a ring. After we got married and had the baby, I pulled money out of a money market account and we went and bought a ring together. At that point, it seemed stupid to propose on one knee after we were already married.
I never did officially propose and given the chance to do it again, I’d want to do it differently.
I really loved seeing the responses from various people. Some of the responses I personally liked a lot. Good to hear this stuff. 
Same here buddy. Me too and i saw a glittering smile on her face but actually it was more lot than that. May be some other time I would be back to tell, gotta rush!
He got down on both knees. It was New Year’s Eve 2012, and I had conked out on the sofa. At midnight, he knelt beside me and gently woke me up. He was looking at me differently and it tipped me off that something was up. He then handed me a jewelry box containing his grandmother’s engagement ring and wedding band, and said–
Shit, I forget what he said. I was still half asleep. He did say “will you marry me?” but I don’t remember if there was any preamble to it.
I never pictured myself being asleep just before being proposed to, but the private nature of it was exactly what I wanted. Fortunately, he’s a lot like me and didn’t need this explained.
I’ve always thought along these lines. I reckon there are plenty of women out there that want their guy to put on the massive peacock display in public and make a spectacle of the proposal that can only be eclipsed by the wedding itself. Other women would be positively mortified by that. The way I see it if you ask and get “no,” no matter what the setting, you made a serious miscalculation and really need to reasses things.
It was July. Though we’d know each other for 5 1/2 years we never lived any closer than 600 miles, and we hadn’t seen each other for over a year. We started talking on the phone again in January after Amtrak froze my hamster. In a very rare bit of perceptiveness for me I realized she might be ready for a change and invited her to help me move from Illinois to Louisiana. We were in the bedroom when I proposed. It was just before or just after we went to see Star Wars, the second time for each of us.
No kneeling, no ring, since this was far from a sure thing.
We called to tell our parents on the way. Both sets no doubt thought “what the hell?” But it’s worked out pretty well.
No. I proposed in a romantic way, under the moonlight, but I thought getting down on one knee was a bit corny. Each to their own, though.
I did.
Present me would knock past me on his ass for doing it, though.
Eighth date, back seat of his '55 Chevy. Not room enough for anyone to get on their knees.
It wasn’t a proposal; it was an announcement. “Some day I am going to marry you.”
I laughed at him.
He also promised that some day he would be making $10,000 a year.
The man keeps his word. 
Yes, on one knee. I insisted when we moved in together that we would not be assuming informally that we would be getting married someday, because it was emphatically my privilege to ask her, and her privilege to then accept or not. After some months, I arranged for a romantic candlelit dinner, got down on my knee at the end, and begged her to marry me. She accepted. We’ve been married 25 years this coming spring.
We were on a date on our way to a restaurant, and had been talking about it when I asked her if she’d marry me. She said Yes, of course. She says it didn’t affect her, but she did go into the men’s room at the restaurant by mistake. After dinner we went shopping for the ring.
My proposal was very unromantic. My now wife and I had just finished having sex and we were laying there. She said something along the lines of “I know you don’t really love me, you just like fckng a younger person.” I responded with “Oh, yeah? if that was all I wanted, would I ask you to marry me? And, by the way, will you marry me?” She said yes and we got married a year later. That was in 1997. Married in 1998, still together.
Peace - DESK
The first time I proposed to someone (1975), we were lying on her living room floor making out in the dark at 3:00 in the morning, and her parents probably would have killed me if they had caught us (I was 20, she was 16).
The second time (1990), we were standing up necking in Gorky Park on a late May evening.
The third time (1994), we were sitting on the couch in my apartment, and she was already pregnant.
The fourth time (2007), we were drinking cappuccino in a coffee house near Pushkin Square and hadn’t seen each other at least six months.
Ain’t gonna be a fifth time, I don’t think.
On a Saturday morning, having breakfast with my kids (from wife v1), I told them I was going to propose to MrsTango, and asked for their blessings. The kids were 18, 16, and 14.
The next morning, having breakfast with her parents, I asked them for their blessings.
The next day, having lunch in a small public park (Pioneer Park in Mountain View, CA if you know it), the park was mostly empty. We had it to ourselves so I consider that to be not a public venue.
Borrowing from Shark’s format:
Kneeling…Yes
Public…No
Accepted…Yes
Still Married…Yes
Elapsed Time…11 Years
BTW, two years prior, MrsTango’s sister was sitting on a park bench with her boyfriend. When she realized that he was proposing to her, she interrupted him with, “Wait – oh no. First, on your knee, mister.”
That’s not why I was on bended knee when I proposed. I’m just a traditional kind of guy.
Perfect.
Go Giants! 
My boyfriend and I both had long marriages - he was married 23 years, and I was with my second husband for 17. We are in it for the long run, but I don’t foresee us getting married. We really dig each other, though. If he does surprise me with a proposal someday, I hope we are horizontal and stark naked so I can say, “Yes yes yes!” And then…well, you know…
The first time, I very properly did the one-knee routine in a restaurant, slightly ahead of schedule because she wanted to know what I was whispering about to the dinner guest on my other side. The engagement lasted just over a year, well into the wedding plans and starting to house-hunt (and realizing we needed to save more) before she decided the sparkle was gone, she had changed, I had changed, and what was it going to be like in twenty years’ time.
The second time, I just said something like “Isn’t it time we put a ring on that finger?”. Afraid I kinda burned myself out the first time.
I did the bended-knee thing. We were alone by a scenic duck pond, and I had a cassette that I played and sang along with, after which I formally “popped the question.” She said yes. That was exactly 19 years ago, minus nine days. I was 23, she was 18 (just 10 days short of her 19th birthday).
And at our wedding, I got down on one knee again to (very publicly) sing to her the last two verses of Proverbs 31, which is (the entire chapter, starting from verse 10, not just the last two verses) traditionally sung every Friday night in Orthodox Jewish homes. And I have continued to do it every Friday night since then.
No. My future wife and I had tickets to see a show at The Fabulous Fox Theater in Atlanta.
We were staying the night across the street at the Georgian Terrace. During dinner at the hotel restaurant, Livingston’s, I covered my hand with a napkin (holding the ring) and slid it across the table to her and asked her, while I pulled the napkin away. She started balling like a baby; the waitress figured out what was going on and brought over a bottle of champagne. We received congrats from a zillion people I didn’t know that were dining near us.