Fun Post For This Wet Afternoon

My OH and I decided between us in the summertime last year that we would get married in 2014 and he'd told me he was going to propose around Christmas time (although he'd told me it wouldn't be Christmas Day as his sister had got engaged on Christmas Day!). So, fast forward a few months (and a lot of patience from me!) and he took me to a jewellers and asked me to pick out 3 rings that I liked. He then sent me outside and he bought one of them and stashed it at his sisters until he was ready to propose. He then asked my daughter if he could marry me and asked her not to tell me so between the two of them they plotted his proposal. He made us a lovely dinner on Boxing Day and after that got down on one knee! Also, I should probably add that he'd had an operation on his foot a couple of weeks before and was in a cast so it wasn't the most elegant of proposals but it meant so much to me because I knew how uncomfortable it must have been for him. I said yes (obviously!) and both me and my daughter were in tears! He then told me that he'd tried to ring my dad earlier that day but he didn't answer and, as my daughter didn't live with us then and was going home the next day, he didn't want to do it without her being there so went ahead and proposed anyway. My dad was happy anyways so didn't matter in the long run but the traditional part of my liked that he'd made the effort to ask him, even if it did go a bit wrong!.

For a real 'mans man' who is never romantic, he really blew me away with how much he'd worked at making it special. It means so much to me that he put so much effort into it.

That's a lovely story.

My H2B has actually planned to do it last year on a weekend away for my 30th but I'd told him not to (I had suspected he would but didn't think he/ we couldn afford it etc etc).

This time he booked a day out with me from doing my uni work, took me on a walk in the lakes where I am from. We had a sit down at the top of a hill and then walked back down and had a picnic by a river where I used to ride my pony. Oer the previous year we had wrote a 'bucket list' of things we wanted to do in our lifetime, such as go on helicopter ride, visit every continent, raise a family etc etc on some playing cards. One of the cards was 'walk up the knott' which we were doing that day and another was 'get married'. We wrote some more after the picnic and I went to paddle in the river. When I came back he said "how about this one" (meaning for our bucket list) and held out a card which said 'get engaged' and a ring in the other hand.

I had known he was going to do for ages, just not when. And when he got me to book a day out from my dissertation months earlier I had an inkling at that point but it wasn't until the day before that it was like 'bingo' he's going to propose tomorrow. I then text my friend to tell her I thought that and then texted her once he had done it with a picture of the ring. OH then took me to a lovely hotel in the lakes and we had champagne and a lovely meal.

He was a bit annoyed I'd worked it out.

Our engagement was no surprise at all, as we had gone from vaguely discussing getting married, to looking at venues before we got engaged! I chose the ring and knew he had ordered it, but I didn't know when he would do it.

The proposal - I got home from work it was a horrible stormy day, the dining room door was shut which was unusual. He called me in, and he had done the dining room out in 100 tealights and candles (think Monica/Chandler proposal, we are huge Friends fans). OH was on one knee and proposed to me. Very romantic and still quite a surprise as I thought he might do it at Xmas or New Year (he chose 18 December randomly!). First thing we did was go upstairs and tell the rats (yes I know we are mental)! Then ordered a pizza! Sums us up perfectly!

We started dating in Oct 2012 after almost 15yrs of being friends, and started talking marriage very quickly, so I kind of knew it was coming - but we had agreed that we should move in together first. We started looking at places to live early last year, but due to situations with flatmates and leases etc, it got to May 2013 and we still weren't living together. I had been looking at rings online and seen a vintage one that I loved, but when I looked again a few weeks later I saw it had been sold, and was gutted.

Then one evening we were sat watching TV in my flat when he suddenly dropped to his knee and produced the ring fron his pocket. He'd bought the vintage one and had been lying to me about it for weeks! He told me that he had planned to wait til we had moved in and then propose as soon as the boxes were all inside the flat, but just couldn't wait. (We did finally move in together in July.)

So yeah, not stereotypically romantic at all, no holiday or restaurant or fancy destination, but to me it was perfect. We celebrated by tweeting and then ordering takeaway pizza.

We were in New York for my 30th birthday and on the actual day it was raining. My OH was really annoyed about the weather which I didn't really get until we got in a taxi to Columbus Circle and waiting for us was a horse and carriage!! *Princess moment!!*.

we went on a ride through Central Park which was soooo romantic, then we got out of the carriage to go for a walk. We stopped on a little bridge near the Ice rink and he got down on one knee with the ring!

Best birthday surprise ever!!!

X

I actually knew h2b was going to propose, something that i will never tell him! Lol. I was tidying up one day, about 5 days before xmas ( 2 days before my birthday) i found a clintons bag in one of the drawers. Me thinking i had found cards i'd forgotten i had bought! Opened the bag to see one saying 'merry christmas to my Fiance'. To say i was shocked is an understatement. I nearly threw up & fainted at the same time lol. I put the cards back & didn't tell a soul. Then he proposed on my birthday on 22nd december. He made me breakfast in bed and did a little speach before presenting the ring. I acted suprised obviously lol. I didn't cry though (did that when i found the card). He was very suprised i didn't cry & i definetly would have if i didnt know about it! The first thing i said before saying yes was have you asked my dad lol.

My OH brought my ring and I was expecting it Christmas Day. I found out the week before I was pregnant then nothing.. He had lots of opportunities but never gave it to me and I was starting to give up hope!

When out daughter was 6 weeks old we went on a little family night away to stratford upon avon and had a really nice hotel. I checked the drawer before I left and yes the ring was gone! We went walking along the river but no proposal, had a bubbly bath no proposal, went for a nice meal no proposal.

So I'd given up when we went back to the room and on the bed was a rose and a bear with my ring tied around his neck holding a sign saying will you marry me? My OH isn't romantic so it was really up there for him. And then he got on one knee and said how much he loves me and Imogen and would I be his wife. I was so super excited!! Xx

Oooh I love this thread! Me and my OH had talked a lot about getting engaged last year, and then in November he lost his job. He rang me up to tell me and was distraught. My attiture was "You hated that job anyway, you'll find something else, look at it as a positive!" and that's when he broke down in tears and it came out that he was planning to take me to Bruges for my birthday in December and propose!!

My dad is quite a traditional man, and the two of them didn't really get off on the right foot when we got together (although they get along great now!) and my OH said that he could never go to my dad and ask his permission to marry me when he was out of a job, so it got put on hold. He found a new job in February this year, so we started talking about it a lot more and began looking at rings.

So on the day he proposed, he took me to Canterbury which is one of my favourite cities and where I used to live, and we wandered around Westgate Gardens in the rain. There's a really beautiful brick wall part overlooking the river which was a bit secluded and out of 'public'. We stood there for a while, talking, and he started telling me how when my dad proposed to my mum they were overlooking a river too - and then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him!

It was perfect (there were even two doves!! Which he hadn't planned on, I must add, they just happened to be there!) but also hilarious - I'd clicked on a couple of days before that he was planning it as he spent about half an hour with my dad and I just knew he was asking his permission! So by the time he started talking about how my dad proposed to my mum, I knew it was going to happen - and tourists kept nipping in to get a view of the river! So he'd kinda wait for them to leave (they would only come over for a few seconds) then carry on. Bless him!

I cried so much more than I thought I would have. He even get a bit teary eyed too!

My H2B had it all planned. I'd actually talked myself into the fact it wasn't going to happen - after all, he is late 40s and never been married, although he has had long term relationships, so I was trying to convince myself that some people just don't "do" marriage, and that I would rather be with him and not married, than ever give him any sort of wedding ultimatum, because I had to respect his feelings, even though I am quite traditional about marriage etc.

I can't pretend that I didn't get upset about it though, and would often have to go and have a little weep on my own so as not to upset/annoy him in return. He knew how important marriage was to me, but I also knew that I didn't want him to do anything just because of "me"....he had to do it because he wanted to, and not everyone wants that.

So, we went skiing....going through Gatwick at 4am is never fun....but we passed a big display of very garish blingy costume jewellery in duty free, and it was half price. I said (half jokingly), oh you could always buy me a sparkly ring. And he looked at me and said "why would I do that?", to which I said "because we could then get married". Poker faced, he actually said to me, you know I'm not ready for that sort of thing.

To which I then responded by going and looking at expensive shoes, not half price, instead.

Little did I know, was that he had my ring, that he had bought a few weeks previously, in his coat pocket. And his plan was always to propose, with the kids, on the slopes on our first morning. We stopped for coffee, and I actually rummaged in his coat pocket thinking it was my own, when I was looking for some change, so how I managed to completely miss the little wooden box he had in there, I will never know! We finished up, and he asked my daughter to take some photos of us on the slopes, as most of our pics are selfies, so we did a couple of cheesy poses, then he turned, got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him. I was gobsmacked. My Daughter managed to catch the whole thing on the camera too, which was really really lovely as I know that most people aren't lucky enough to have their proposal captured.

He had arranged champagne back at the chalet, and made a banner that said "she said YES" which he then pinned to his rucksack so it flapped about as he skied down for the rest of the day! He had asked for my Mum's blessing beforehand (My Dad is sadly not with us), and had proposed wedding dates etc already in mind.

So, he just needed to do it HIS way. And it seems that HIS way was just about bloomin perfect!!!

And had he asked your dad?

Aw this is such a lovely thread

My OH proposed on our 16 month anniversary (he had to point that out to me afterwards as I didn't realize!).
I was trying to pack for our first holiday away when I turned to go get something out the wardrobe and saw him kneeling on the floor. I tried to get around him and he asked if I could sit down on the bed for a second. I refused, saying I was too busy for him to start ****ing about and I really needed to get on, thinking he was just going to try and make me relax.
He had to insist twice more before I caved in and sat down, grumbling the whole time about time wasting and blooming idiots...
Then he took the ring out of his pocket and I promptly burst into tears!

I called my dad afterwards only to be told that he and mum knew already as my OH had asked them both

We celebrated by ordering Chinese and watching Nightmare Before Christmas

x

Love this thread.

We were on a river cruise up the Douro river in Portugal. Portugal is my favourite country and my OH knew that. He proposed on the deck whilst we were having cocktails just before the Captains dinner. I was surprised even though we had talked about getting married before.

What I didn't realise is this was the 3rd evening he had tried. The first one he bottled it because there were too many people about. On the 2nd evening he was all keyed up for it then there was a disaster on the boat when an old gentleman died just before dinner. So bless him he had to wait another couple of nights before it seemed right again. By that time we were very close to the Spanish border and the next night we would have been moored up in Spain and he wanted to do it in Portugal.

He didn't have a ring because he knows how fussy I am so wanted to take me to chose. When we got back he took me to Hatton Garden and I said I wanted a blue diamond. We picked out the stone and then had the setting made for my beautiful blue diamond and two smaller white diamonds.

We were heading to NZ in March for my sister's wedding. Before we left, the administrator at my work said "I bet you come back engaged". I laughed it off, not believing that would happen, as at that stage we had only been together 18 months and OH had never mentioned marriage.

Anyway, as part of our holiday in NZ we had planned to go into the mountains. We were staying at a place that is near a Lord of the Rings filming site (the smaller hill at the front right of the photo).

Anyway, on our 2nd day there we decided to climb to the top of the site. When we got the top, OH turned around and said to me "I want to spend the rest of my life with you, to have a family with you". Then he got down on one knee and asked if I would marry him. My first words were "Really?"...which is a bit embarassing!!! I then said yes, of course!

We had absolutely no mobile reception, so it was our little secret for the next couple of days, which was quite nice. Was also nice to be back in NZ to tell my family.

Yes he had ?

Mine never proposed.

We'd just had a baby, moved house 6 weeks later, so decided "we might aswell get married".

I knew he was going to propose at some point, as we had talked about marriage for years, we'd been and designed the ring together (in January 2010) and he had asked my Dads permission (in April) but I didn't know when or how, except that I hoped it would be before we emigrated to New Zealand in January of 2011

Our flights were booked for 9th January 2011, and December approached. By that time I had given up all hope of an engagement. We had agreed that we would spend Christmas 2010 separately with our own families, and celebrate New Year together. That winter was particularly bad. We were snowed into the village for several days and were constantly checking the long range forecasts, praying that by January the rail networks and airports would be clear.

When there was a brief lull in the weather I decided to take advantage and get on the train to my parents....no way was I missing that last Christmas at home. The night before I was due to travel, John told me to get togged up as he was taking me to my favorite restaurant. We got in the car and had a treacherous drive only to find it closed. Determined not to be beaten John said we'd eat at the posh pub in the village. A sign saying 'sorry, no food' greeted us on our arrival. I was unaware of the plans that were afoot, but having been thwarted twice, John needed a pint to steady his nerves. Post pint, john came up with plan C, a trudge through the remaining slush and snow to the 'less posh' pub in the village. The staff there told us that due to the snow they'd had no deliveries for 2 weeks but they did have one steak and kidney pie, and one microwave lasagne left, but the only veg they had in was brussels sprouts! I was starving, so we ate, and trudged home. By this point I was cold and mardy. I stomped upstairs to put my pyjamas on. John called upstairs that he was going to open some champagne. I told him not to bother, I didn't want any. I came back down and he had put on some music. He made a big show of popping the champagne cork and pouring 2 glasses despite my grouchy half hearted protests. Then he handed me my glass and got down on one knee..........and my phone started to ring! Even from a distance my mum knows how to spoil a moment!

The interruption was enough to give me a minute to let it all fall in to place. Our last night alone together before we leave the country, a (thwarted) dinner at my favourite restaurant, champagne cooling, and play list of all the songs that mean a lot to us from when we met.........he had imagined the perfect proposal, and in a fashion unique to us it hadn't quite gone to plan, but we got there, it was lovely.

Junie I love this!

And Kimiu, yours made my eyes water a little bit... I love the idea of the banner!

I asked my OH to marry me on Valentine's Day this year. We have been talking about getting engaged and getting married for four years - we did plan to get engaged during our first Christmas, but having only been together four months, we didn't want to deal with all the potential questions etc from friends and family, so held off. I hadn't planned to ask him on Feb 14th, it just sort of happened - we'd had a lovely day and a fab steak dinner, and as he cleared the plates into the kitchen, I thought "I don't ever want to be without him", so when he came back into the room I just asked him - he said yes, and we celebrated by getting drunk and playing our favourite songs very loud.

It's amazing what you can do with white pillowcases and felt tip pens!! Apparently he hadn't left himself enough time before we set off for the airport, and he was trying to make it/colour it in at the last minute, and had to keep hiding it from us when he was making it. It was a lovely thought, and the fact that he was determined to do it just made it all even better, rather than just saying that he had run out of time but intended to....

We had only been together six months, but people were surprisingly okay about it. I think my mum was surprised but never once has she said or suggested that it was too fast, thankfully!

I LOVE this thread! How lovely hearing all the nice proposals!

My OH and I have been together for almost 11 years. For the past 5 or 6 I've been pestering him to get married, but he always just laughed it off. He proposed on Christmas Day 2013; I had actually asked him to buy me botox after Christmas as my present (!) so was surprised when he pulled out a massive wrapped box and a second christmas card. When I opened the card it had "Merry Christmas to my Fiance" on the front. I didn't even twig, I was like, "why have you got me this fool, I'm not your Fiance?" Then I opened it and he'd written this really lovely verse inside which ended with, "will you marry me".

He then passed me the massive box (which had been sat under the tree with me none the wiser) and inside was the smaller ring box, he'd used the big box as a decoy! He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him at the dining table ha ha!

Doesn't sound very exotic compared to some of these, but anyone who knows me knows that I am an absolute child when it comes to Christmas, he really couldn't have picked a better time or place, than Christmas morning with just the two of us. And given that I'd pestered him for years about it, he still managed to make it a complete and wonderful surprise He'd also asked my parents' permission beforehand

(never got my botox though! ? )

I proposed to mine by emailing him saying that our 10 year anniversary fell on a Friday and that would be a good day to get married, to which he replied "is this a proposal, if so its a bit rubbish"

I do like to wind him up though and say the reason he didn't ask me was because he was scared i'd say no hehe

Mine is very sweet actually…. I well up whenever I think of it!

Mine was in December so with the magical Christmassy times around us – but was Friday 13th! Haha! OH knows I hate xmas day proposals, but we both love xmas time in general.

Anyway… Back story….

H2B describes it has being “so perfect” in the run up and during, considering the “ring story” anyway haha. **edit** mines long but I think worth a read!!

He was in Birmingham having some drinks with his Mum before going to see Bruno Mars (I was in Manchester that same weekend seeing Ellie Goulding with my Mum). Now apparently he walked past a jewellers and got an “urge” saying to his Mum “let’s go and have a look in here” she asked what for and he said “an engagement ring”. He said his mum welled up bless her. She also gave sound advice to him remembering a comment I made about a friend of a friends ring which was that I don’t like thin bands and chunky stones, or plain bands with a stone on it… I like detail and pattern. I had forgotten id said that all those 3 years ago….!!

Anyway, he found a couple – 3 he liked but knew I wouldn’t, and 1 he through was nice but most expensive, but knew it was “the one” as it was the only gold one and I much prefer gold jewellery. He laid the deposit down there and then on a loan from his Mum. Fast forward 5 weeks and we all met up in town after work one Friday at the opening of the Christmas markets – me and H2Bs Dad after work, H2B and his Mum had met earlier as both on half days (later realise this was to collect the ring). I was ‘due on’ and having a particular bad month. i’d also had a terrible day at the office. I was grumpy, moody, and certainly not nice to be around. I was snappy, rude, and it was an evening I was ashamed off a few days later when I apologised to everyone over dinner. At various points that evening I was sat right beside the ring which was in MIL2Bs handbag! At one point I asked her if I could borrow a mirror and she said yes to get it, which I did! Didn’t see the ring box though…!!! She later said she cannot believe she did that!

So the day…..

The location was in a sweet little cottage rental in Northumberland. Because we both have very hectic lives we always take a weekend away just the 2 of us in December to get some quiet “us” time ready for the festive madness, so this was the 3 or 4th time we’d done it. So yeh, nothing unusual for us there. Driving up was a run 4.5hr drive of xmas songs. I’d also suggested a bottle of champagne to have after a fairly cr4p year but with something to celebrate (and a bit of a rship wobble which we had come out of the other side stronger and happier than every before”). He said he couldn’t believe his luck.

The week previous he suggested we have our own mini “Christmas day” just us 2 at the cottage, and each do £5 for 5 gifts in Poundland and see how could get the best gifts for each other. Just for a laugh sort of thing, nothing out of the ordinary for him to suggest that. I was actually looking forward to it as he also said he’d give me a night off cooking (I normally do the first night) and he’d make us steak fajitas. So after we’d done the food shop, unpacked, and nipped to the local for a few bevvies at the local, I decided it’d be nice to have a bubble bath together with some candles and crack open the champagne. Again, H2B said he couldn’t believe his luck. Looking back, he was looking (gazing?) at me much more than normal in the bath, telling me how beautiful I am and how happy he is. We had xmas songs on in the background. Eventually we go out (after he trumped and I decided trump water AND cold water didn’t go well!) and I was under instruction to stay out of the living area whilst he set up the presents.

Meanwhile I put a status on facebook saying what a wonderful time I was having; I was sat on the bed drying off feeling the happiest I’d felt in a long time, and lucky to just have an awesome Mr. Anyway I eventually get called in. He’s poured us a wine and the gifts bags are ready. He fire was going, there were candles on the table, and xmas songs playing. He said he wanted us to do these before he cooked, I said we should wait. He insisted, I insisted, but he’d gone to the effort so I gave in. One by one we opened our presents. He however had an extra present in his bag wrapped in the same paper I’d used!!! I had accidentally put in his monkey cufflinks I’d got him for actual Christmas presents! He started to open it but despite me protesting and trying to grab it off him, he said “no! you are going to listen to me for a change!”… he then got up from his seat and came round to me and got down on one knee, just as he finished upwrapping the present I’d accidentally given him. Except it wasn’t the cufflinks……. he’d just copied the paper & shape from under the tree back home! Instead he was opening a ring box and asked “will you marry me?”. I didn’t even look at the ring, gasping a huge “noooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!???” Then when I realised what was going on, I flung my arms around him. I didn’t even say yes, just “are you serious?” and “really?” then “oh my god we’re engaged!”. He pushed me away and said “are you going to look at this ring then or what?” I took my first look at it and it was beautiful. Just my cup of tea!!! He said he had a whole speech prepare but bottled it, his hands were shaking a bit!!!

I’d even let him pack his own bag for the weekend – I normally do that and he was worried he’d not get to sneak the ring up!

We did all the ring arounds, the texts, then the FB status’s. before we knew it was nearly midnight and no dinner! So hungry but couldn’t eat as tummy in knots and only managed a few bites of the fajitas that he eventually cooked….. we finished off the champagne… and had a very late night The next morning was SORE from a hangover though!! Far too many bubbles and excitement!!

Ooh, love this thread!

For mine, we had spoken about getting married and had gone engagement ring shopping together so he could let me choose the ring and get the right size. Then it was a case of waiting for the right moment.

So off we go a few weeks later mid April to Barbados for 2 weeks. The ring had just arrived in the shop in time, so I was expecting a romantic Caribbean promosal.

On the flight en route, he tells me he forgot to bring the ring with him! I thought he was joking and winding me up to throw me off when he was gonna propose. for the first week of the holiday I kept expecting him to propose, but he really had forgot the ring. Queue disappointment!

So, later we go to Blackpool for a weekend in May, and by this time, he has the ring on him whenever we are together, so it could have been anytime. We were walking back to the B&B late one evening, and he sat me down on the bench out front and knelt down in front of me and proposed then.

So not quite as romantic as it could have been, but was happy none the less. My other half is not known for romance anyway!

Loving all of these stories - some of you have very romantic H2Bs!

Me and my OH had been together for about 3 years when wedding talk started and we knew we would be doing it at some point in the future. OH was in no rush and really doesn't even want to get married that much. His parents never married and to him, having a family is much more important. I always imagined being married before we have children so I guess you can say we got to a bit of a stale mate for a few months but he then told all my mates that he was going to propose before I turned 30. I tried to put it out of my mind and managed to do so quite well to start with. But then every time we went out for a posh meal, away for a holiday, etc. etc. all my friends starting saying 'ooh he might ask you tonight' and then it became more and more on my mind. Not because I was pressuring him but because everyone else kept bringing it up.

So as my birthday drew nearer (and the nagging friends got louder and louder - to him as well as me by this point) I had resigned myself to the fact that people were now putting him under too much pressure and it wasn't going to happen. (Queue friends all saying 'no he def will propose before your bday') Anyway my 30th came and went....no proposal. I was a tad disappointed but actually love him to pieces so it didn't upset me too much. Vague wedding talk had been going on all up to this point about our dream 'if money was no object plans' and this continued.

Then out of the blue I got offered a promotion at work (yippeeee) so we decided to get togged up and go to our favourite (pricey) restaurant for dinner. That was really lovely and then we headed to the pub with some friends until about 1am. Then when we got home he went outside for a smoke as per usual so I went in and opened up the back door for him. I started faffing about inside and tidying up and then emptied the bin and asked if he fancied taking the bin round while he was out there. He then threw the bin bag on the ground and came straight back at me with 'babe, do you fancy marrying me?'.

Gobsmacked doesn't cover it - I just started crying and threw my arms around him. He had planned to do it in the restaurant but it was really loud and busy that night and he knew I wouldn't like too much fuss (smart man!). He has decided earlier that day that he was going to ask, went and bought the ring and just did it!

It wasn't as romantic as it could have been but actually - it was so HIM, so US (our first date was a bit of a nightmare too but that is another story haha). I just adore my ring and wouldn't change a thing about it or the proposal.