Not Engaged Yet

Planning engagement for years, alternative to proposal?

My boyfriend and I have been saving up and looking at rings for months to get engaged! We have the ring and we both know he will propose, which sort of takes the surprise out of it. Do you have any advice on how to still make this a special moment even though we know its coming?

Re: Planning engagement for years, alternative to proposal?

  • lng22392 said:
    My boyfriend and I have been saving up and looking at rings for months to get engaged! We have the ring and we both know he will propose, which sort of takes the surprise out of it. Do you have any advice on how to still make this a special moment even though we know its coming?
    Welcome to the boards!

    My partner and I planned our engagement over the course of several months. We knew we wanted to get engaged after living together for a year, and neither one of us wanted to be proposed to. So we bought rings (he wears one, too), and on the planned day, we went to a really swanky dinner (Top of the Hub in Boston).

    We still wanted to have some surprise, so we went to dinner with our families (parents and siblings) under the pretense of celebrating something else, and we surprised them with the news.

    In terms of how getting engaged worked without any sort of proposal, we got home from work, got dressed up, kissed excitedly, put the rings on, took some selfies, and went to dinner.
    Anniversary
    now with ~* INCREASED SASSINESS *~
    image
  • I knew what day FI was going to propose - it was the first day he'd really have a chance after he got the ring. Just because I knew it was coming didn't make it less special. We went out to dinner and just spent a really nice evening together before he proposed.
  • Hi! Welcome to the boards! 

    My fiance and I knew about when we wanted to get engaged. We went ring shopping together. He bought the ring in front of me. I found out when he was picking it up (by accident, it was a Wednesday.) I pretty much knew he was going to propose to me sometime that weekend. I had been telling him all along that just some sweet words on the couch would be amazing. He ended up doing something very traditional, and fairly elaborate (by my standards.) On the way back from dropping a friend off at the airport, he tricked me into going to his office under the guise of a bathroom trip. Instead, he took me to the rooftop which overlooked the White House, got down on bended knee, and proposed. He had champagne chilling in his office for us. 

    I was pretty surprised that he went to all that trouble, even though I could kind of tell that something was going on when he gave me an awesome kiss in the elevator. It was a great moment. Your proposal will be a great moment surprise or no surprise. 

    Honestly? the best part of the proposal was when he hugged me afterwards and said "I love you so much, I want to spend forever with you." I think sweet, heartfelt words are all you need. 

    ps- please show us ring pictures when it happens! we LOVE ring pictures!
  • I think a lot of us that are engaged on this board knew it was coming. My FI and I had decided on a timeline a few years ago, and I knew it would be sometime this summer or fall. If you search through some of my post history, you'll even see my BSC posts leading up to it because FI was dropping all kinds of obvious hints that it was coming. Even with all those hints, he blew it out of the park and managed to surprise me. It was so special, and I'll never forget how wonderful that day was. Just because you know it's on the horizon doesn't take away at all from the surprise of the moment. The proposal is a huge milestone in your relationship, and you'll always cherish that moment regardless of how much of a surprise it is. 

    @lilacck28 I've never heard your proposal story before. That is seriously so sweet! 


    Daisypath Anniversary tickers
  • lilacck28lilacck28 member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its First Answer
    edited August 2014
    @eilis1228 Thanks! I don't think I've ever told the story on the knot... I went from a non engaged lurker/ poster, to an engaged poster without ever really having an "I'M ENGAGED!" moment on here. so I guess... Moment had!

     And my fiance says thanks too! He worked really hard on it. Apparently he was brainstorming with his coworkers. He was going to play our song (dream a little dream of me, by cass elliot) in the background, but decided that was too complicated for him. He said "how was I going to push play and pull out the ring box at the same time without looking like an idiot??" haha. I love hearing about all the planning/ reliving great relationship moments. It's my way of fishing for compliments, as in "damn, we're an awesome couple!" 
  • @lilacck28 I'm glad you got to share your moment! It really does sound like a very sweet, well thought moment. Your fiance did well! I love asking my FI about the planning process too. It's just interesting to see how the idea developed and how long he'd been planning it. Makes you special, you know? :)


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  • edited August 2014
    hi! My FI and I planned our engagement together too. Went ring shopping together and had an idea of when we wanted to be engaged by. I knew he had picked up the ring because we had ordered it in another city so when he came up with an excuse to go on a roadtrip without me it was fairly obvious what he was going to do. He still managed to surprise me though because I had always said I wanted a simple at home on the couch type proposal since we had bought the ring and had the discussion that we were going to get married already. He however was adamant about some sort of traditional proposal. So while I knew he was picking up the ring I expected it to be several days or weeks until he gave it to me. However he surprised me by giving it to me fairly immediately upon his return home from buying it, while we were sitting on the couch. I think no matter how the proposal happens, even if you are involved in every moment of it, it will be extremely personal and special. You're making the decision to spend your life with someone! It doesnt have to be a surprise to be a big and exciting, special moment! ETA: I swear I had paragraphs...
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  • Knowing that it's coming doesn't make it any less special when it actually happens... the same way knowing you have to poop doesn't make the amazing feeling of pooping any less special when it actually happens.

    Capiche?
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