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Did you have a romantic proposal of marriage ...And were you happy with it.?

(116 Posts)
annsixty Wed 03-Mar-21 11:47:50

This query is prompted by a conversation I had yesterday with an acquaintance who said her recently married D, second marriage, had been rather disappointed by her man-friend’s proposal and he has been making up for it since with romantic (expensive) gestures.
Have things changed so much?
It is a very long time since my H and I got engaged and it seemed to “just happen” he certainly never proposed, we had known each other since school and always knew we would marry sooner rather than later.
Any really romantic stories?

Anniebach Thu 04-Mar-21 11:05:24

Think I win on romantic proposals , my husband was in the police force and stationed in the south , he was transferred further north, didn’t then have a car so bus journeys, he said
‘If we married I wouldn’t have to make that bloody bus journey.

Annaram1 Thu 04-Mar-21 11:04:53

My husband and I worked in the same place. After a while we started dating and we were in a secluded woodland when I said "I think I love you." He said "I think I love you too." He then got down on one knee and said "Will you marry me?" I said yes, but we did not get an engagement ring, as they were expensive and our pay was not good. He gave me a silver one studded with marcasites in a leaf design. He gave me an engagement ring about 4 years after we married. We were married 54 years and he passed away nearly 5 years ago. I miss him like hell. I still occasionally wear the marcasite ring.

Startingover61 Thu 04-Mar-21 11:01:48

I was quite happy with the proposal, though I ended up paying for the wedding rings (he did buy my engagement ring, a rather pretty diamond solitaire). The marriage itself ended after many years, however, due to his (serial) adultery. I did see the email proposal sent to his new wife, though. He forwarded the decree absolute and keyed in the one-liner, ‘Now will you marry me?’ Very romantic, I thought!

timetogo2016 Thu 04-Mar-21 11:00:43

My first H didn`t propose ,it was more a case of if you went out with someone for a long time marriage was the thing to do,so we just got on with it.
Stupid attitude in them days.
Second H`s proposal was along the lines of,do you still want to get married,because i was going to ask you yesterday,on your birthday day,but if you said no,it might have spoilt your day.
My reply was i don`t remember you asking,but yes okay.
We still laugh about it now.
Who said romance was dead.

sue01 Thu 04-Mar-21 10:56:35

Mine just said " Will you make me Shepherd's Pie when we're married " ?

I do.

51 years on March 14 ... which is also his 71st Birthday.

harrigran Thu 04-Mar-21 10:52:26

We had been going out for two years and just assumed we would get married at some point. We went together to choose the ring and decided on a date before Christmas to make the announcement. He did ask my father for permission as I was only 19, Dad did ask him if he knew what he was taking on. On the day of the engagement I put in a day's work in a paediatric hospital then he collected me to go and visit his mother who was in hospital. Mother was important because it was her birthday.
It took another two years before we got married, needed to complete my training.
DH is way more romantic than me, every special date is recognised. We were on holiday in France on the 50th anniversary of our first meeting and he produced a beautiful card and pink champagne, to my shame I forgot.
On our 50th wedding anniversary he gave me a gold locket, an exact replica of the one I wore on our wedding day. He made a speech in which he said he got his long service medal at the Palace (his OBE) and this was my medal for 50 years service.
He said he couldn't find the original locket so had to use a photo to have it made, I'm not surprised he couldn't find it, GD had been playing with it and asked if she could keep it and being a good Grandma I told her " of course you can ".

Lemontart Thu 04-Mar-21 10:48:44

My DH and I talked about getting engaged and bought the ring together but I told him to hold onto the ring and choose a special time to formally propose and give it to me. I was less than impressed when he produced it while we were watching the Eurovision Song Contest! It wasn't quite what I'd had in mind - not at all romantic.

GrammarGrandma Thu 04-Mar-21 10:47:03

We proposed to each other, by arrangement, on 29th February 1972 and were married on 22nd December that year. It was perfectly romantic. We didn't really like the idea of being "engaged" but I did have a nice ring. Haven't worn it for decades as it has a large rhodochrosite stone and doesn't fit with a wedding ring. Instead I wear the eternity ring husband gave me on our 25th anniversary, which sits nicely above the gold band.

Riggie Thu 04-Mar-21 10:43:04

Lol. Mine didnt ask, he told me!! When I asked if it was a proposal he did the cheesy getting down on one knee thing! We were alone and he didnt have a ring (we chose it together later) but it was lovely!!

Magrithea Thu 04-Mar-21 10:41:25

DH proposed to me after the wedding of our best friends - his exact words were "I think we'd better get married"!! I made him 'do' it properly later though grin

DSiL got down on one knee in the Savoy Grill to propose to DD - all very romantic!

gulligranny Thu 04-Mar-21 10:23:34

My DH (second husband) proposed very romantically by the side of Niagara Falls when we were on holiday in Canada in 2008. Spoilt a bit by the fact that he knelt in a puddle, though!

Witzend Thu 04-Mar-21 10:18:20

Even though there was no romantic proposal or a ring at the time (I’m sure dh would have thought both very un-cool) he did surpass himself many years later by producing a lovely bouquet when it wasn’t my birthday or Valentine’s Day, so I was nonplussed and had to ask why.
‘It’s 50 years to the day since we met.’

You could have knocked me over with the proverbial feather. Although I remembered the occasion very well, I couldn’t even have said what month it was. For someone so bent on appearing ‘cool’ at the time, I was astonished that he had marked the date.

annsixty Thu 04-Mar-21 10:00:11

Thank you all for your lovely memories.
It is surprising how many “drifted” into marriage.
I thought my own H was the only one with no romance in his soul, it seems not, pleased to say we had 60 years married before he died almost two years ago.

GrannyOwl5 Thu 04-Mar-21 09:44:24

We met at a golf course in Northamptonshire where we were both members and he proposed on the eighth fairway just before I was taking a tricky shot. I always said he did it to put me off my game, but I still beat him! We went back to the course a couple of years ago and he knelt down in the same place and said it was the best thing he had ever done even though I still beat him at golf! Quite a romantic gesture from a phlegmatic Yorkshireman although I had to help him up ??. We have had been married for 43 years.

GrandmaKT Thu 04-Mar-21 09:40:54

Neither DH or I are known for our romantic gestures!
He came home with a ring one day (we were already living together at this point). He asked if I liked it. I said, "Well, it depends, is it an engagement ring or just a ring?". He replied "It can be an engagement ring if you like".
I replied "Oh, OK then, in that case I'll change it!" (Thinking that if I was going to be wearing it all the time I might as well chose one I liked).

Deedaa Thu 04-Mar-21 09:38:35

DH said he wanted to marry me when we'd been dating for two weeks. I told him he couldn't possibly know after two weeks. Seven months later we bought the engagement ring (£32.10s in 1970) I can't remember how the engagement actually happened. I didn't feel wildly in love but I couldn't see any reason not to marry him. The wedding ring cost a whole £8!

vampirequeen Thu 04-Mar-21 09:27:45

Mine was a romantic proposal and it was love at first sight. Both things my first marriage had taught me were only found in films.

The first time we met he told me that we would get married and I agreed. Then he formally proposed a few months later. My ring wasn't expensive. We don't need to spend outrageous sums to know that we love each other. In fact my engagement ring doubled up as my wedding ring. Our tenth wedding anniversary is next August.

silverlining48 Thu 04-Mar-21 09:17:59

I can’t remember anything about the proposal, but we got engaged 18 months after meeting and married 18 months later.
Rings were about £10 each from
a cheapish jeweller in Croydon, which equated to 2 weeks wages for dh.
Wedding on register office and back to parents fir sandwiches in the garden with 20 guests .
Will have been married 52 years this summer. They were simple times.

BlueSapphire Thu 04-Mar-21 08:53:49

DH casually suggested we get married while shopping in a Chinese grocery store in Singapore. We had only been together for about 6 weeks, and then we waited three years to get married once we were both back in the UK.
We were together for 49 years until he died three years ago. Just the best and kindest man I could have had.

grandmajet Thu 04-Mar-21 08:53:36

I don’t remember a proposal at all, and nor does he. We were living together while waiting for my divorce from a short first marriage. I didn’t have a ring; he thought we couldn’t really get engaged as I was already married! I’m not sure how we both ended up at the registry office at the same time in 1976 - 9.30 on a cold December morning - but I’m so glad we did! It’s been fun, on the whole.

lemongrove Wed 03-Mar-21 23:00:44

Smileless2012

We still laugh about Mr. S.'s 'proposal'. We were sat in his car outside my mum's and he said "I suppose it's time we got engaged". At not quite 18 I was so excited I said "does that mean we'll be getting married?". He said "I suppose so" and looked rather pale!!

Looking back it could have been better but being married to him couldn't have or be any bettersmile.

Are you sure we aren’t both married to the same man??

Hellogirl1 Wed 03-Mar-21 22:57:00

We`d been going out together for about 3 weeks, and one night he told me he intended to marry me. Nothing else was said until a couple of months later I found I was pregnant, and things just sort of happened then. We would have been celebrating our 58th anniversary in July, but sadly he died 4 and a half years ago.

Witzend Wed 03-Mar-21 18:56:22

Not really romantic at all. Dh was about to return to the Middle Eastern country where he’d been working - but I could not join him unless we were married. So it was a hasty decision on his part (no ring) and I often wondered for a while whether the fact that the food provided in the bachelors’ mess was so dire, had anything to do with it!

But he’s proved to be an extremely good bet, so maybe it wasn’t just the thought of home cooking after all. ?

maddyone Wed 03-Mar-21 18:55:06

Reading through these comments it seems that romantic proposals weren’t very common in ‘our day.’ What’s happened then that romantic proposals are now expected? My daughter’s now husband took her to Prague and proposed on one knee on Charles Bridge. My son proposed to his now wife after a champagne trip in The Eye, and got on to one knee to do so. A niece’s now husband took her to Lake Como for the proposal. And it seems to be expected. The grand gesture and one knee is de rigueur now it seems. I’m just wondering why.

geekesse Wed 03-Mar-21 18:48:29

I’m inclined to think these staged, filmed, down-on-one-knee in a carefully curated setting are a recent and quite unnecessary development. I put them in the same category as gender-reveal events, cake-smashes, baby showers and extravagant hen- and stag-dos.