Dan and I have been dating since September of 2002 and were officially engaged on December 31, 2006. Because we were dating for so long, I anticipated the engagement, but his timing completely surprised me. We had talked about it, of course, and were even in the process of making wedding plans over the last six months or so.
Sadly, my father passed away on December 16th, so becoming engaged was the last thing on my mind. Dan was wonderful and helped me tremendously through the very rough time.
For Christmas, he had given me a beautiful Vera Bradley travel jewelry box with a letter and a poem he had written himself. At the end of the letter he told me to choose a day between the 27-29 for a "special evening." In the back of my mind I thought he might have been up to something, but didn't give it too much thought. Well, as luck would have it, Dan got sick and lost his voice so our plans got changed quite a few times during that week.
We did a lot of things together that week, including seeing some wonderful Christmas lights, going to my favorite restaurant, and even trying to ride an outdoor Ferris wheel. Since all of these opportunities "passed" us by, I really wasn't expecting him to propose during the holidays.
New Years Eve came and we had nothing planned except hanging out with each of our families and having a relaxing time. We spent the afternoon with my family, and the evening with his. Around 8:00 p.m. we were just sitting around talking when he told me he had another Christmas present to give to me and instructed me to wait for him in his family room. So, I sat on the chair and when I heard him coming down the stairs he told me to close my eyes.
A few minutes later I felt a rather large box on my lap and was told I could open my eyes. I opened them to see him setting up a video camera in front of me and I was quite perplexed. For a moment, I thought "this might be it" but then it quickly escaped my mind and started to open the box. I looked inside and found a beautiful jewelry box engraved with "Tiffany and Dan, Engaged, December 27, 2006" on the top. As I sat there looking at the box, the only thing running through my mind was "No, we weren't engaged then!"
A minute or two later it hit me that it really was happening and Dan told me to open the jewelry box. I opened it to find the most perfect engagement ring and, before I could say anything, my hands flew to my mouth. He took the ring, dropped to one knee and said some really sweet things ending with, "Will you marry me?"
I'm pretty sure I managed to nod my head yes before jumping up and hugging him. He placed the ring on my finger and the evening was perfect. Or so I thought. Eventually, we decided to head upstairs and tell his family. It was perfect timing because not only were his parents there, but his sister and boyfriend, as well as his grandparents were there, so we got to tell everyone at once. We told them the news, got hugs all around and tried not to cry.
His dad asked him how he managed to keep it a secret from everyone and he said, "Well, I didn't keep it a secret from everyone. Her dad knew." I stopped what I was doing and my jaw dropped. He then told me that he got the chance to ask my dad blessing to marry me before he passed away. That's when the tears started, and they didn't stop for a long time.
I am so thankful to have my daddy's blessing and to have such a wonderful fiance to begin my life with.
T. H., Canal Winchester, Ohio
I met my fiancé three years ago at work. Everyone told me that he was an extreme airplane fanatic. The U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcat is his passion.
This past September, the F-14 was being decommissioned. With this information in hand, his wheels began turning. He had arranged before we left New York for Oceana, Virginia, that they would "fly" my ring in on the last flight.
Well, the gentleman who was supposed to arrange this hung him out to dry—couldn't find him, didn't answer calls or emails, etc. So my resourceful man found a museum in, of all places, Rhode Island, that was willing to set his plan into action.
His new dilemma was getting me from Virginia to Rhode Island without me getting suspicious. Hmmmm...what to do?
He went to the hotel lobby to use the computer and purchased tickets to the New England Patriot game in Massachusetts—my favorite football team!
On our way up north, he asked if he could stop at the museum and I agreed to it. There, we were allowed to climb into the cockpit of this amazing F-14. After I got in, my fiancé, still on the ladder, pulled out the ring and asked me the question I've waited three years to hear!
I, of course, said, "YES."
The Patriots lost that night, but I certainly won for life!
M. O., Melville, New York
I woke up on my 26th birthday in our lovely apartment to have Leighton, my boyfriend of three years, making me breakfast in bed. He told me that I had been working really hard lately and that he had spoken to my boss the day before and that this was "my day." So I didn't have to go to work. I was overwhelmed.
He left the apartment while I was eating breakfast, saying that he had to run a few errands. I walked into the kitchen to find a dozen red roses in a vase and an envelope beside it. It was an open amount voucher for a massage salon that I had been trying to get into for ages but couldn't afford. It turned out that Leighton had prebooked it months in advance.
I spent the day at the salon, which was absolutely amazing, getting facials massages, pedicures, you name it. Once i was rejuvinated, one of the staff came up to me and handed me an absolutely gorgeous dress with a note attatched to it saying, "Put this on, darling, then, once you are ready, come out the front steps."
I was absolutely bewildered but I did what the note had said. I walked out the front of the salon and there was a big black stretch limousine waiting for me with Leighton standing up through the sunroof holding another red rose.
I got into the car, looked over at Leighton and he was on one knee. I immediately burst into tears. I was so happy he had proposed!
After that we went out to my favorite restaurant. I had absolutely no idea. I thought I was just being spoiled because it was my birthday!
Y., K., Albany, Australia
I loved how my fiancé proposed to me, it wasn't necessarily with any super elaborate scheme, but was so meaningful and simple.
I had just moved to England from Canada to be with John after six months of dating online. With the move, a requirement to fulfill my UK visa was to get married within a six month time limit.. so needless to say, that since John had yet to propose to me before the move, that there would really be no surprise to it as we were set to be married in just under two months. Of course this was a bit disappointing, and I wasn't expecting too much.
Well before the REAL proposal happened, we had two failed attempts.. and a few fights because of it.. (I had been pressuring him to get to it as we were getting married in a short time and I wanted to wear the ring) but soon I had convinced myself that it was gonna end up happening completely predictably and unromantic.. boy was I wrong!
So weeks went by.. and I was growing more and more desperate.. and one weekend John asked me while I was making dinner if I wanted to go to London that Saturday with him as he needed to find out where this place was that he had to go to on Monday for his job.. and that after we could have a day out and see Embankment again like when he took me the first time. I of course agreed, thinking that maybe something was up and that maybe FINALLY he would propose. So the day before we left we went to his twin sister's house to borrow a few things and I overheard her husband and John talking.. and I heard him say "Well why don't you just take her on the Milton Keynes Eye, instead of the London one?" and I was SURE that he was gonna propose on the London Eye when we went, as I had mentioned how romantic it would be a few months prior.
So the next day we got to London, saw a few of the sights, and took in a great guided tour of the Tower of London, then got some fabulous Italian food at La Piazza on Embankment. After we had gorged ourselves, John suggested taking a walk over to the London Eye.. and I of course excitedly agreed (thinking this was it!).. and we bought some FastTrack tickets to skip ahead in the queue. So we were on the Eye.. taking in the beautiful lights of London at night.. and as we neared the top I was holding my breath waiting for John to take the plunge.. (he was sitting back on the bench cause he hates heights) and as we got to the top.. nothing.. and as we started to go over.. and nothing.. and my heart dropped as we neared the end.
So we got off the flight.. and John asked me if I had enjoyed it.. I nodded trying to hold back tears of disappointment. Then he suggested we start walking towards the tube station to head home, and mentioned that he had had a great day out with me.
But as we walked towards the Houses of Parliament, he took a detour and said that he wanted to show me something since we were right there anyway.. but I was soo absorbed in my disappointment that I hadn't thought about it being anything but what he said. So anyway, we ended up at Westminster Abbey.. and it was so beautiful.. especially under the lights and the moon was full and the stars were out. We took a walk around the grounds and ended up in front of the cathedral's giant doors, under the beautiful ancient carvings, and John stopped me, took my hands and said, "Jenn, do you know why I brought you here tonight?" I of course, having a blonde moment, told him I have no idea.. and he put his hand in his pocket and took out the black velvet ring box, opened it and said, "Because I wanted to take you somewhere really special for this."
He got down on one knee (in front of some tourists) and asked, "Jenn, will you marry me?" and I swear I almost collapsed, but managed to hug him and squeak out a "yes".
He later told me that since he knew how predictable everything had been, and that since he also knew that I was so sure that the proposal was going happen soon after the two first failed attempts, that he wanted to put it off to make it as much of a surprise as possible. As well, he also knew that I was waiting to be proposed to on the London Eye, and that he purposely didn't to throw me off again, and used my disappointment to his advantage. Well, I have to agree.. it was definitely a surprise and the most wonderful night of my life, as when we finally arrived home, he had my favourite flowers waiting in our bedroom and a bottle of pink champagne to cap off the night.. it was perfect.
J. R., Milton Keynes, UK
Well, to begin with my fiancé didn't proposed to me. I proposed to him. We were living in seperate states at the time. Him in Oklahoma and I in Arkansas.
I had just started my new job and I wanted to do something special for him. So, I sent him a care package with all of his favorite things. I lined the bottom of the box with 2 cards. One marked yes and the other card marked no. In between all of the other items I bought him I had placed a messily folded note. I had taken a blue crayon and with my left hand (I'm right handed) I wrote. "Will you marry me? Check yes or no and open corresponding card" It looked like a 3rd grader wrote it.
Well, he received the package, but he never mentioned anything about the proposal. About 2 weeks later I went to Oklahoma to help him move to Missouri with me and he had framed the note I wrote him. As I looked at it I noticed that he had checked the "yes" box in pencil.
A. B., Jones, Oklahoma
