How did you (DH or DW) pop the question?

[trailrated]

Did you just ask, did you do something romantic or special? Any involvement with family or friends? Curious/potentially looking for ideas. Thanks for sharing!

[ReadyAimFired]

I asked....took her to an outdoor art exhibit in Houston called the Field of Lights.  Was open until about 11pm at night...no one around except family. She said YES! yay! Of course I took her to a nice restaurant for family dinner first.

[Dicey]

My husband actually proposed the day he got his braces put on. Who the hell does that? Since the braces cost a metric crapton, I do not recommend this approach. Except for the fact that it did work. I said yes, and his teeth are now beautiful.

[Longwaytogo]

Well, pre MMM we had a bit of a Vegas habit. So one weekend I snuck the ring into my carry-on and the first night there we had dinner at Emeril Lagasses fish house.

When she went to the rest room an attentive bus-boy waiter neatly folded her cloth napkin that she had left on her chair and I hid the ring box under it. When she saw it I got down on one knee and proposed.

A bit corny/public in hindsight but she loved it at the time (and she said yes)

[Prepube]

I said, "would it cost us less, or more, if we were to get married", and she said, "Yes."

[Lanthiriel]

We were killing time before a wedding and jokingly looking at rings. I found a pretty cheap one (we were super young) and said, "I'd probably be happy with something like that." And he bought it for me. I think he may have jokingly said, "Will you marry me?" while signing the credit card receipt. That sort of set the standard for romantic expectations in our marriage.

[mr_orange]

I proposed to my wife under the Rialto Bridge in Italy on a gondola ride.   

[The Pigeon]

I said, "would it cost us less, or more, if we were to get married", and she said, "Yes."

H ha, that's almost the line my father used on my mother. His proposal was, "Do you think we could save more money if we were married?" And they did! (Marry and save)

[patrickza]

Lying in bed on holiday in the Seychelles. It was my birthday, and I'm known for not liking gifts. Told her I don't want a gift but I do want her.

I'm not generally romantic, that was the best I could do.

[Cookie]

I had complained that we didn't have any pictures of us, so we planned an outing to the park with a tripod. He asked the question as a picture was taken.

These pictures became our engagement photo shoot and I love telling people our photographer was a tripod.

[CletusMcGee]

I was at a halloween party dressed up as a zombie in a suit. My now wife was dressed up as Max from Where the Wild Things Are.  Instead of popping a proper question, I just made a zombie groan at her (we are very sophisticated people).

[Insanity]

Well, pre MMM we had a bit of a Vegas habit. So one weekend I snuck the ring into my carry-on and the first night there we had dinner at Emeril Lagasses fish house.

When she went to the rest room an attentive bus-boy waiter neatly folded her cloth napkin that she had left on her chair and I hid the ring box under it. When she saw it I got down on one knee and proposed.

A bit corny/public in hindsight but she loved it at the time (and she said yes)

Glad I am not the only one that proposed in Vegas!

We went and my original plan was to do it at a restaurant we love in Excalibur.  But backed out because she doesn't like  attention.

I wound up proposing in the hotel room.  She had no clue.  I am super old fashioned and even asked her parents before I bought the ring.  She wound up getting home that night before I could leave.  And I just made up some excuse about forgetting she had class that night.

[arebelspy]

Valentine's Day 2006, I booked us a surprise trip to Hawaii (Waikiki Beach on Honolulu). I cleared being gone a few days from school with her professors (we were in college)--one of them had a test scheduled, but he let her take it another time.  I also got her a few days off work.  She had no idea I did any of this.  A few days before I said I had an early present for her, and she'd get it when she got home from work (around midnight, she was working the closing shift).  I had a card that said "The most important thing about Valentine's Day?" and on the inside "Location, Location, Location." and showed a bed.  I drew palm trees and a beach around it, and put an itinerary in, and when she opened it, I said "pack your bags, we leave in a few hours."  She was quite surprised/excited (and I told her it was all cleared w/ her professors/work).

We went and had a great trip.  On Valentine's day, after being there for a few days, we went on a sunset dinner cruise, and before dinner when we were on the top deck looking at the sunset and ocean and island I got down on one knee and proposed.  She grabbed the ring out of my hand and shoved it on her finger.  I said "I take it that's a yes?"  It was.  We had a nice dinner and another nice day or two in Hawaii, then flew back home.

Her family had all guessed I'd be proposing (Valentine's Day in Hawaii?), but she had no idea, because I had been throwing her off with wanting to wait a bit longer, so she was very surprised (first at the trip, then at the proposal).

Been almost a decade now, and it was still the best decision I've ever made, and I think it always will be.

(The trip was very Mustachian, got a great deal on it, and on the ring. ;) )

[iamlittlehedgehog]

A surprise engagement in front of the penguin exhibit at the Lowry Park Zoo.
Originally he wanted to go to the aquarium and pay for one of the penguins to waddle up with the ring but that cost $500+ per person. He knew I would kill him if he did that, so park admission and secretly arranging for my nearest and dearest to be there.

[expectopatronum]

Some of these are cracking me up, but I think arebelspy is winning at the romance bit.

Our story (note: I'm a woman.)-

We'd been looking at rings for some months, and I gathered up that mine had been ordered and/or was in hand. I ordered his wedding ring (a Claddagh) which showed up about a month later. A Vegas trip and our anniversary came and went; I got impatient to be "officially" engaged. It was Sunday night, and we'd just finished the weekend by watching the last season of How I Met Your Mother. I think I sat there stunned and then threw popcorn at the TV yelling "booooooo". And then I asked if we could go for a walk. (Spoiler: I got all emotional at the end of HIMYM and didn't want to waste another second.)

I took him to our favorite spot in town, on a bridge overlooking downtown. I was nervous as heck and managed to stop him just continuing to walk over the damn thing and made a little speech and then presented him with his ring. He didn't know I was going to give it to him before the wedding and was totally surprised and delighted. We cried.

About a month later, he took me for dinner at a French restaurant and then insisted that we go on a walk afterwards (mind, it's 10:30pm by this point and about 50 degrees). He took me to a park where we had several dates before, sat me down on a bench, and proposed. There was supposed to be champagne, but I sort of ruined that plan by requiring a restroom. We had bubbly back at his house instead.

I usually just tell people the last half, because they look at me like I'm from another planet. My husband loved it though and the whole thing felt a lot more mutual. Turns out that he'd ordered my ring about 3 months prior, but that the custom design process took longer than he anticipated. (Plus, we spent awhile looking at diamonds before we realized I preferred a Moissanite instead.) In some ways, it was of course unnecessary, but it allowed us both to create a special moment for the other person and be intentional about what we were choosing/asking.

[Zaga]

We were going to a friend's house to play board games, and before that he took me to my favorite restaurant that happened to be nearby.  When we were just about to leave he put a ring box on the table, asked me to "keep an eye on it", and went to the restroom.  Longest restroom break ever!  (I peaked of course, tanzanite ring, which is my favorite.)

When he *finally* came back I said yes.

[arebelspy]

We were going to a friend's house to play board games, and before that he took me to my favorite restaurant that happened to be nearby.  When we were just about to leave he put a ring box on the table, asked me to "keep an eye on it", and went to the restroom.  Longest restroom break ever!  (I peaked of course, tanzanite ring, which is my favorite.)

When he *finally* came back I said yes.

That's AWESOME.  I love that.  Can't believe you peeked.

[protostache]

I was about a month into chemo and decided that, if she's willing to stick with me through that, she's definitely a keeper. During a lull while making dinner (at that point I was still semi-functional) I went and got the ring from it's hiding spot, got down on one knee, and asked her if she'd stick with me through thick and thin. Three years later we're happily enjoying a simple, cancer-free life together.

Oh, and dinner was delicious :) Meatloaf and mashed potatoes.

[mathlete]

I was about a month into chemo and decided that, if she's willing to stick with me through that, she's definitely a keeper. During a lull while making dinner (at that point I was still semi-functional) I went and got the ring from it's hiding spot, got down on one knee, and asked her if she'd stick with me through thick and thin. Three years later we're happily enjoying a simple, cancer-free life together.

Oh, and dinner was delicious :) Meatloaf and mashed potatoes.

Great story! Glad you're better!

[RelaxedGal]

Like Prepube and The Pigeon's father we were totally unromantic and it was part of a financial discussion.  We had gotten our regular "what are your goals 6 months/2 years/5 years out?" questionnaire from our Financial Advisor which was (and still is) the only time we thought long and hard about our goals.  "I want to be married" I said, and he agreed.  "Hey, that big vacation we've been planning to Europe in November would make a great honeymoon" he said, so suddenly we had a deadline and everything.  We never did buy an engagement ring.  We'll hit our 7 year anniversary in October.

I love love LOVE arebelspy's story!

[Jouer]

I've mentioned this in other threads but I came up with a mustachian way to spend cold Canadian nights that goes beyond watching TV or a movie and that doesn't cost much money: The Living Room Picnic, where we have our favourite picnic foods: pâté, cheese, wine, salads, etc but on the living room floor. We already had a picnic blanket.

Since I'm not a showy person, I knew I didn't want to make the proposal a public affair. I decided The Living Room picnic would be a great time and place to propose. I asked her in the middle of the picnic, while one of her favourite songs was playing. I managed to sneak a bottle of champagne in the back of the fridge to pull out after I asked (and she said yes!).

We still have Living Room Picnics from time to time and always reminisce about the proposal in our old 1-bedroom condo.

By the way - the ring was made custom for her by a friend in the business. Based on how little I paid, I don't think he made anything off of me. She gets compliments all the time and loves saying it's custom made. (She leaves out the part about getting it for cost.)

[mathlete]

I'm not married but marriage is basically a forgone conclusion at this point with my GF. We'll do it when we think it makes sense to (which probably means when there is a compelling tax benefit or if/when we decide to have children).

There will be no engagement ring and no wedding. GF informed her mother of this a few weeks ago which caused some tears to start welling but what are you going to do? Can't please everyone I suppose.

[CheapskateWife]

I had already booked a trip to Paris on my own when DH and I started dating...he was fun so I invited him to come along.  We had a blast, saw everything, and climbed all the stairs.  Notre Dame...climbed it!  Sacre Cour...climbed it!  Arch de Triumph...climbed it! Eiffell Tower...climbed the first 2/3rds and took the mandatory elevator to the top.  DH hands our camera to what appeared to be a hooker, asked for a picture of us, at which point DH gets on a knee and pops the question.  I said no.  (We had only known eachother for 5 months).  The rest of the trip was incredibly awkward.

Fast forward 6 months and he deploys overseas...I realize what a mistake I made by not marrying him before he left.  We talk as much as possible and decide we are going to do this, so he comes home for his mid-tour with a ring in his pocket.  We planned a lovely day of hiking and then fancy pants restaurant.  Desert comes out, and he gets down on one knee and before he can say anything, I whip a tiny model of the Eiffel tower out of my purse and slap it on the table.  We laughed, we cried, we ate tiramisu.

I love that man....

[Jesstache]

My husband planned a surprise trip for us to our current home of Bend, OR for my "Birthday Weekend).  We were living in TX at the time but knew we wanted to move to Bend when the chance arose.  Anyways, the day AFTER my birthday he wanted to take me for a hike to see his favorite waterfall. 

We went to breakfast at a local café then went for our hike.  It was about 50 degrees and rainy and he kept asking me if I was sure I wanted to hike in that weather (I mean, duh, perfect hiking weather, am I right?).  The Tumalo Falls hike starts out at the big awesome looking waterfall and another couple was there and took our picture.  We hiked about 2 miles up past it to some lesser famous falls (double falls) where there's a rock out over the falls that you can stand on (really kind of scary as it's very high).  He asked me there while we both stood on the rock.  I don't even remember everything he said but I do remember him being really nervous. 

I also didn't want him to think I was shallow and only cared about the ring so I put it on and then put my glove back on over it and didn't look at it very much until later at our hotel room.  Then I went on about how much I liked it (he picked it out himself and I had no idea about any of it, was very surprised).  Turns out he thought I didn't like it when I put my gloves back on (it was chilly!).  Poor guy.  Later that evening it was Fall Fest in downtown which I still love to go to with our kids :). 

We got the chance to move back here about 3 years later and every year on our anniversary we go back to the Falls where he proposed.  (Married 6 years)

[Philociraptor]

Wife said she wanted fireworks, so I took her to a Rangers game on a Fireworks Friday during the summer, proposed during the show. She saw it coming a mile away. Got married nearly 2 years later (yay self-funding wedding for 2 huge families).

[forummm]

Wife said she wanted fireworks, so I took her to a Rangers game on a Fireworks Friday

That may not be what she meant...

[Zaga]

We were going to a friend's house to play board games, and before that he took me to my favorite restaurant that happened to be nearby.  When we were just about to leave he put a ring box on the table, asked me to "keep an eye on it", and went to the restroom.  Longest restroom break ever!  (I peaked of course, tanzanite ring, which is my favorite.)

When he *finally* came back I said yes.

That's AWESOME.  I love that.  Can't believe you peeked.

Lol, that's what he says *every* time I tell the story!  He's silly.

[waffle]

I took my wife on a date to go star gazing. I decked the back of the truck out with pads, blankets, pillows, and bubbly. I also lined the edge of the truck bed with white Christmas lights. I didn't tell her what the date was. Instead I just made each step a surprise. We started out just going for a drive, then I pulled off at a reservoir and said surprise we are going star gazing. She got really excited, then I said surprise and showed her the bed of the truck.

So we were laying there watching the stars and she mentioned how great the date was. I said oh it gets better and pulled out my ipad with a star app on it and we learned all about the stars we were looking at. Then she made another comment about how great it was, and I said it gets better and pulled out the bubbly. While enjoying that (you guessed it) she was having a great time and said it couldn't get any better than that, to which I replied, I can make it even better and then got down on one knee and proposed.

[Kitsune]

My husband and I discussed for a month what we'd want our hypothetical future to be like, and whether or not we should get married, and then after a while we looked at each other and we were like, wait, do you want to do this now? And we basically agreed that we both wanted to marry each other that year, and that was that.

Not romantic for most, but it suited us perfectly, so that works out. :)

(And then I suggested city hall, but it turned out that he wanted a WEDDING. Argh.)

[mm1970]

We'd been dating for about 2.5 years when he was getting out of the Navy and moving cross country (but I still had 2 years left).  He got out in early June and moved up to his parent's camp on a lake for the summer, living for free and doing labor to help fix it up.  Grad school didn't start until late September.

So I went up to visit him in mid-to-late July for a weekend.

Late that night we took a late-night swim. I joke that we swam in the lake, out to a wooden float in the middle (about 10 yds out), looking at the stars, so romantic, except we didn't have our glasses on, so we couldn't see the stars!  He popped the question (don't think he planned to), kind of sounding like he was going to throw up.  I said yes but we both felt weird enough that we didn't tell anyone (his whole family was back at the camp).

He also jokes that he had a condom in the pocket of his trunks that floated away at some point.  I don't know what he was thinking was going to happen out there.

That was 1995, we've been married almost 19 years.

[zinnie]

Some of these are cracking me up, but I think arebelspy is winning at the romance bit.

Our story (note: I'm a woman.)-

We'd been looking at rings for some months, and I gathered up that mine had been ordered and/or was in hand. I ordered his wedding ring (a Claddagh) which showed up about a month later. A Vegas trip and our anniversary came and went; I got impatient to be "officially" engaged. It was Sunday night, and we'd just finished the weekend by watching the last season of How I Met Your Mother. I think I sat there stunned and then threw popcorn at the TV yelling "booooooo". And then I asked if we could go for a walk. (Spoiler: I got all emotional at the end of HIMYM and didn't want to waste another second.)

I took him to our favorite spot in town, on a bridge overlooking downtown. I was nervous as heck and managed to stop him just continuing to walk over the damn thing and made a little speech and then presented him with his ring. He didn't know I was going to give it to him before the wedding and was totally surprised and delighted. We cried.

About a month later, he took me for dinner at a French restaurant and then insisted that we go on a walk afterwards (mind, it's 10:30pm by this point and about 50 degrees). He took me to a park where we had several dates before, sat me down on a bench, and proposed. There was supposed to be champagne, but I sort of ruined that plan by requiring a restroom. We had bubbly back at his house instead.

I usually just tell people the last half, because they look at me like I'm from another planet. My husband loved it though and the whole thing felt a lot more mutual. Turns out that he'd ordered my ring about 3 months prior, but that the custom design process took longer than he anticipated. (Plus, we spent awhile looking at diamonds before we realized I preferred a Moissanite instead.) In some ways, it was of course unnecessary, but it allowed us both to create a special moment for the other person and be intentional about what we were choosing/asking.

I love your story!!!

I asked my husband. I just decided it was time so I initiated the asking. I bought a ring and took him to the beach at sunset. I was really, really nervous because we hadn't discussed marriage and I was worried what he would think about being proposed to. But he loved it and wore the ring on his right hand while we were engaged.

[Kris]

It was New Years Eve, and we had gotten all dressed up to go to a big shindig (he was in a tux, I was in a floor-length velvet dress), but we got hit with a major snowstorm and decided it was too risky to go out. We turned all the lights down and put on some music, and spent the night slow-dancing in our living room.  Around midnight, he asked me to marry him.

[Bracken_Joy]

She grabbed the ring out of my hand and shoved it on her finger.  I said "I take it that's a yes?"  It was. 

Oh god I did that too. And I didn't even remember at first. I woke up in the middle of the night like 2 days after he proposed and woke him up and asked "did I take the ring from you and put it on myself?" His only reply was to laugh very hard. So the next morning I asked him to 1- please never tell anyone because I was mortified and 2- please get back down on one knee and put the ring on my finger himself. This has since become a cheesy thing where he puts my ring on for me after showers and dishes and the like.

ETA: he proposed on top of a mountain that is one of the hardest peaks in the area (which we climb every year). I nearly fell off the rock when he did. He had laid quite a false trail, so I was not expecting it. He's simple but romantic, and his proposal was as well. When my back was turned looking at the view, he got down on one knee and pulled out the ring. He said, "I love being on the top of the world with you. Will you marry me?". Obviously I said yes. He even had a tiny bottle of champagne in his pack. Only downside: getting down the extremely difficult trail while staring at the beautiful shiny thing on my finger. He even threatened to take it back until we got home at one point when I tripped.

[Random]

I asked over sushi.....subsequent to her throwing up.   Seriously.  It all worked out well in the end.  Happily married for 24 years.

[expectopatronum]

I love your story!!!

I asked my husband. I just decided it was time so I initiated the asking. I bought a ring and took him to the beach at sunset. I was really, really nervous because we hadn't discussed marriage and I was worried what he would think about being proposed to. But he loved it and wore the ring on his right hand while we were engaged.

That's great! And wow, I don't think I would have had the courage to do it without knowing the answer in advance!

I love how lots of these stories have a comical moment. There's so much pressure for it to be a total romantic surprise...

[AllieVaulter]

We'd been dating for a while and planned a camping trip at the Grand Canyon.  We decided to go in May to avoid crowds...  My husband had planned to propose at the Grand Canyon, but it was freezing and snowing.  We spent one night, but we didn't have the right gear.  It's May in Arizona!  I'd brought tank tops and shorts and our tent was NOT a winter tent.  So I was in a hurry to get somewhere warmer.  We threw everything in the van and in our hurry to close it before it got tons of snow inside, we broke the sliding door.  Pulled it right off the tracks.  We tried to fix it, but we didn't have the right tools and neither did the souvenir place or the bike shop.  We wedged the door closed, used some duct tape and headed off (we also didn't bring chains). 

On our way down to not-atmospheric elevations, the brakes on the van failed.  Not completely, but the power went out and without advance warning, it was scary.  We spent the night in a Walmart parking lot, and took the van apart, buying the tools we needed as we discovered we needed them.  We managed to get the door back on good enough the stupid dome light would stay off. 

We headed home and on the last day of our trip my husband realized he'd lost his chance at romance.  So instead, he proposed over a lunch of hot dogs cooked on the bank of a creek.  So not romantic.  But we did have fun skipping rocks afterwards.  I said yes, of course!  *We had the worst possible road trip and it was still so much fun!*  The proposal was a complete surprise.  We hadn't looked at rings, but apparently, he'd been shopping around for quite some time. 

As an aside:  camping with a minivan is pretty awesome.  We took out the back seats and fit an entire twin bed into the back of the van.  We could store all our stuff under the bed, but we still had the bed as a back up (for Walmart parking lots, and when we realized there were buffalo roaming through campsites). 

[Sailor Sam]

Once, about 5 years ago proto-wife and I were living la vida long-distance-relationship, with double deployments and difficult to mesh schedules. We spent about a year seeing each other once a month. Then came the harder time, when the gaps stretched to 2 months. That Fall, during one of the longer gaps we frantically manipulated schedules and managed to meet up for a weekend on Shelter Island, NY.

Wifey had been wandering around New England for months aboard ship, and I had been consistently joking that I expected her to get me a pet lobster. Saturday night she took me for a picnic on the beach. Hummus with crackers, olives, wine, and a proposal. My ring was tied to the claw of a tinsey stuffed lobster. I said yes.

[Caoineag]

First the context: Earlier in our relationship, after having watched some big public engagements (some of which ended very very badly), I had essentially banned him from proposing until I gave the okay because I didn't want to ever humiliate him by saying no (and I am the type that would say no if I am not ready). I was concerned that would make things awkward since I could tell I was the more hesitant one and didn't want the relationship destroyed by him asking too early. He had understood and accepted that (he didn't want to go through a no either).

About 6 months later, we were chatting, had been living together for a couple of months and I mentioned that now that I had been living with him for two months, I could see us having a future and so I lifted the ban. He promptly asked me to marry him. He told me that he needed to get me to say yes before I changed my mind, lol. Given that I had just lifted the ban, I was clearly not going to say no but I was surprised at the time how eagerly he took me up on the offer.

After that, we went and looked at rings, realized no one local would sell me anything but an ugly diamond so we went online and designed our engagement rings.

Married 11 years and he still gives me a week before I am going to trade him in, silly man.

[use2betrix]

I just proposed to my fiancé a few months ago. My gf and I had talked about engagement a lot, but agreed it would be after I paid off a bit more debt. Well, I decided to surprise her about 6 months earlier than the time frame we'd been discussing.  I found out about a local mountainous trail that contained 20+ beautiful waterfalls. So we went hiking like we had many other times, me with the ring in my pocket.

As we were sitting on a log eating lunch 3 girls saw us and walked up and said, "you two are so adorable, do you mind if we take a picture of you?" So when they were done, I walked up to one and gave her my phone and asked her to take a pic, then whispered I was going to propose. I walked back to my gf, told her I loved her, and got down on one knee. We got a great short video of it. Two of the girls started crying lol. It was beautiful and scenic right next to a waterfall.

[supomglol]

I proposed at an annual pool party hosted by a large group of her friends.  We'd gone together the previous year, so I knew most of the people there, and that it was a big event - but it was important that it was her friends and family present and not nescessarily mine.  After the meal, I stood her up and popped the question on one knee.  In hindsight I should have done so further from the pool as she was apparently so concerned that I was playfully going to push her in that she didn't fully connect with what was happening infront of her.
 
The good news is that she said yes and the people I tipped off just prior to proposing were able to snap a really great picture of the moment. 

I had already spent 6-months saving and custom designed a ring through a work-friend who's family owned a jewelry store in Chicago (Dynasty Jewlers).  The ring and band are truely one-of-a-kind and set with her favorite stone. 

[CommonCents]

He proposed on our college campus at reunion

[2ndTimer]

We lived about 200 miles apart and visited on weekends.  I made a Friday afternoon appointment at the courthouse and said to him, "You need to get here a little early on Friday so we can get married" 

[wtjbatman]

Our first date (not when I proposed :) we were really enjoying ourselves, but I had no idea where to go as I had drove an hour to see her and we were in "her" town. Near the end of the night she took me up a bluff that overlooks the town. It was this beautiful night, you could see all the lights of the town, with the river and everything around it. We held hands and I kissed her.

Fast forward a year and a half. I'm now living in this town with my girlfriend. We haven't been up to that overlook since that night. Well I had finally got the ring I knew she wanted, and I had talked to both her brother and father and gotten permission from them to ask her to marry me. It was summer, a beautiful day out. Originally I asked her earlier in the day if she wanted to go for a walk, but after work she wasn't super excited about that idea. So I suggested a little cruise in my unmustachian mustang convertible with the top down. She said sure, and I drove us around for a bit. Then I casually suggested we go up the bluff and check out the overlook. We head up there, I let her get out of the car, and as she's looking around I slip the ring box into my cargo shorts pocket. Let me tell you it felt like the box was so obvious and huge. She later told me she had no idea it was there. She actually claims she had no idea I was going to propose! We hold hands and walk around for a bit, then head to the overlook. There was one couple nearby looking out over the town as well. After a minute, my girlfriend turns around to take a selfie of her and the town. While she's doing that, I whip out the box with the ring and get on one knee. I wish I could say I photo bombed her selfie with my proposal, but the angle wasn't quite right for that. Instead I was on my knee for about 10 seconds, until I said her name. She turned around, saw me down on my knee, and this huge surprised look went on her face. I told her that this is where our first date ended, but I wanted it to be where our lives together began, and asked her to marry me. She said yes with the biggest smile I've ever seen on her face. She grabbed the ring, shoved it on her finger (it wasn't even sized correctly yet!), then pulled me to my feet and kissed me. And she's a little lady and I'm not a small guy. Guess the proposal gave her some kind of super strength.

After that we drove straight to her parents to tell them the good news (of which they already knew I had planned, obviously). Been married 4 months now :)

[Lady Fordragon]

A little backstory first.  Back in 2009 my now husband and I were talking about moving in together.  At that time, a $8k first time homebuyer's tax credit was being offered, which made our decision fairly easy in terms of renting vs. buying, especially in Ohio.  A number of family and friends thought that we were crazy for buying a house together without being at least engaged first, but we had talked about marriage and knew that's where we were headed at some point.  Now I should also mention that we had been in the process of watching all of the Sex and City episodes prior to moving in together.  There's an episode where the main character (Carrie) is proposed to by her current bf (Aidan) shortly after they've agreed to live together, I made a comment about how those two big life events occurring so close to one another can be too much to deal with.  Apparently, my now husband took this quite literal and decided to hold off on proposing to me until after we'd been living with one another for a few months.

Fast forward to 6 months after moving in together and a failed attempt at trying to get me to come on a walk around sunset (face palm), my now husband took me out to a nice restaurant in the same outdoor mall area where we had our first date.  We had a lovely dinner with a bottle of wine and finished it off with one of my favorite desserts - molten chocolate lava cake.  (At this point I should mention that I had an inclination that he was going to propose since he had made the mistake of listening to his voicemail on speakerphone a week or so prior while I was in the same room and I heard a message regarding the ring.)  However, even though I had a feeling that it was going to happen soon, he still ended up throwing me off guard by not asking me sometime during dinner.  Instead he waited until we were outside of the restaurant and heading towards the movie theater when he asked me if I wanted an after dinner mint and handed me an Altoids container, which wasn't all that odd since at the time he always had some on him.  I open the container like it's nothing special and inside I find a black silk lined interior with the ring in the center.  I can't quite recall the exact words that my husband used to ask me (he was very nervous), but needless to say I said "yes".  We never did actually see a movie that night.

It was by no means an elaborate proposal, but it was a very sweet one.  We've been married for almost 3 years now.  :-)

[gooki]

I popped the question just as we were leaving the house to go out for dinner with friends.

[forummm]

Not my story:

Just a few minutes ago after SCOTUS released the same-sex marriage decision, an attorney coworker cried, called up her partner and proposed. Her partner was in Ikea. Their son wants a Sonic the Hedgehog wedding cake.

[gillstone]

We were lying in bed discussing what we planned on doing after college.  We decided we would prefer to be in the same town and then decided we should get married. 

In the morning we thought for a second and it dawned on us we were engaged.

[trailrated]

Not my story:

Just a few minutes ago after SCOTUS released the same-sex marriage decision, an attorney coworker cried, called up her partner and proposed. Her partner was in Ikea. Their son wants a Sonic the Hedgehog wedding cake.

That is awesome!

[gillstone]

Not my story:

Just a few minutes ago after SCOTUS released the same-sex marriage decision, an attorney coworker cried, called up her partner and proposed. Her partner was in Ikea. Their son wants a Sonic the Hedgehog wedding cake.

Awesome

[WESTOFTHEHUDSON]

We took a walk along Brooklyn Heights and were admiring the Brooklyn Bridge lit up at night ( one of our favorite places to walk) when he just asked. It was simple but sweet.