Did you know your proposal was coming?

OliveOilsMom · November 2014

We had been talking marriage already, but a week before our 3rd dating anniversary, he said to me "For our anniversary next week, let's go pick out your engagement ring." So we went to the jewelers and picked out the ring. Then I tapped his arm and said, "I'm out, it's up to you now." This was mid-October. I wanted to be surprised when he proposed.

Fast forward to the holidays, I was really expecting it to happen at our Christmas Eve party, but nope! On Dec 30th, we spent the whole day together. At the end of the day, he decided we couldn't wait any further. So he asked me to marry him at home and I was dumbfounded! He told me later he was going to ask on NYE before we went out for the night and thought that we had such a "perfect" day on the 30th, he wanted to top off that night with the proposal!

LittlePeachBlossom · November 2014

He completely surprised me. I had no idea he was even shopping for a ring and it had been quite a while since we had had a serious talk about marriage. I was so confused when it was happening. It didn't feel real until later when I was able to process it all.

Simky906 · November 2014

I had no idea. I knew that we would eventually get married (we'd talked about it) but the when surprised me. DH had just recently been accepted into grad school and pretty much dropped the marriage talk, so I assumed he wanted to wait until he was done with grad school.

Turns out, he'd just stopped talking about it to throw me off. He proposed 3 months before he started school. He took my BFF shopping for the ring since I'd never so much as mentioned a preference. It basically killed her not to tell me since she knew for over two months before he proposed.

The day he actually proposed, we were on a beach vacation with my family and he said he'd like to go over to the creek dock after dinner. So when I finished eating I asked if he was ready to go to the dock. He got this kind of stunned look on his face and squeaked out 'Now?' I definitely gave him a weird look and told him that we didn't have to go over there is he'd changed his mind. Poor guy just got nervous, but we did got to the dock and the proposal was wonderful.

Edited because spelling is hard

kat1114 · November 2014

Like a lot of PPs, I knew it was going to happen eventually, but I had no idea when. We had gotten my ring size, but I didn't think he was even close to buying a ring.

We went to Cancun for a vacation over Christmas last year, and I kind of thought he might do it then. Instead, he surprised me at a garden (where we ended up getting married), on his birthday, and proposed. He asked a couple if they could take our picture, but he actually had a note on his phone that said "Shh, I'm going to propose. Just keep filming." I had no idea what was happening until he got down on one knee.

thisismynickname2 · November 2014

lulu411 said:

There was a thread on the E board that mentioned a girl knowing her BF had the ring and she'd done like 90% of the planning for the wedding while he still hadn't proposed. IMO that is craycray, and kind of takes the fun out of it. FI and I knew we were the person each other wanted to marry, but before he actually proposed to me I refused to do ANY wedding planning or talk, no matter how much my FMIL or mother tried to get me to do it. When the time finally came, I had NO idea it was happening. In fact, I said this in another thread but the day it happened before-hand, I was bitching to my best friend about how I was tired of waiting on him to do it when I was ready and obviously he wasn't ready because he hadn't even started trying to save money to buy a ring. Ha. Joke was on me, he'd had the ring for over a month.

On the other hand, I once knew a girl who "went away to get engaged." They seriously went on vacation over the weekend TO get engaged. Weird.

Did you guys know your proposal was coming or were you taken by surprise?

We'd gone ring shopping so I knew it was coming. He had the jeweler lie (apparently he's well-skilled at that) about how long it would take to create the custom ring. We had a vacation planned for a month away and I was really hoping the proposal would take place then. The jeweler said it could take 6 weeks.

Lo and behold, it took two weeks, and DH had the ring in his jacket pocket when we went to the airport and through security and all that. The actual proposal itself was a surprise- I just wanted to find a pub for some Yorkshire pudding and roast beef after seeing the Tower of London but he detoured me into a park and proposed there. "So... we're engaged! Cool!"

goldchocobo.defunct635829490514903826 · November 2014

We had talked about marriage before, ages ago. We were just living life and enjoying our time together but I found the ring in a drawer when I was snooping putting things away. He proposed on a random Sunday in March 2013 after we were out doing random errands. I fessed up and told him I saw the ring box. I didn't peek! I was very surprised that it happened that day.

sarawifenow · November 2014

I had a suspicion that something was up just because H was acting really weird for about a week before he proposed. We had talked about marriage and who we would have in our WP, but it was all hypothetical.

He proposed on a random Wednesday when I got home from work. I was super oblivious and turned around and saw him on his knee and I said, "Oh fuck!" and ran into our bedroom. When I came back out, he was still on his knee! Poor guy. He later told me that he was thinking, "ok...now what?"

lacqueredlover · November 2014

@sarawifenow haha that's awesome, literally what kept going through my head while he was proposing was "don't say fuck, don't say fuck" because my friend had gotten engaged a few months before and said "oh fuck" so it was totally in my head.

I apparently ended up saying "are you fucking serious" at one point although I kinda blacked out and don't really remember what happened lol

sarawifenow · November 2014

@lacqueredlover--proposal blackout is a real thing! I don't remember anything else about that night! Well, maybe one thing.

penguin44 · November 2014

Heffalump said:

I knew, just because DH planned a weekend away. I'm the planner in our relationship, he's usually asking "Where are we staying? What time are we leaving?" etc. So when he made all the plans, I knew.

Same for me. DH planned a camping trip. I am always the planner. It's good that I knew though. He almost forgot to bring breakfast supplies.

I didn't know when it would happen on our trip though. So that was a surprise. He waited until the morning we were packing everything up.

Sugargirl1019 · November 2014

I knew it was coming 24 hours before. DH had moved to another city, and he surprised me by driving in on Saturday night after I got home from work. On Sunday he took me to get my nails done, bought a new outfit, took me to the fanciest steakhouse in the city, and went for a walk on university campus at sunset. I had always told him I wanted to get my nails done before he proposed and that I liked the idea of having a day of anticipation leading up to it.

But, right after dinner, he sounded like we were just going to go home. And I got sad in my mind, like if he doesn't ask to go walking on campus I'm going to be so upset. Well he just drove there, so that shut me up. He started ALWAYS being on his phone so that tipped me off. He proposed at sunset with a photographer taking pictures behind bushes!

SmileDamnit · November 2014

I knew it would be in the near future because we had already talked about wanting to get married in the summer and the amount of time we'd need to plan the wedding, but I had no idea when it would actually happen. So yeah, a random Monday after work came as a total surprise....and it was perfect

.

theartistformerlyknownas · November 2014

SmileDamnit said:

I knew it would be in the near future because we had already talked about wanting to get married in the summer and the amount of time we'd need to plan the wedding, but I had no idea when it would actually happen. So yeah, a random Monday after work came as a total surprise....and it was perfect .

DH told me later that knowing I wanted to get married in the early fall played into proposing in December.

amelisha · November 2014

FI saw an ad for a wedding dress sale and said " You should go buy a dress!" I said "Maybe you should buy a ring first." So we picked out and ordered a dress and a ring together, but he took the ring away when it arrived and said he wanted to do a "real proposal."

So he hid it in our closet for a couple months and then did a big proposal. So obviously I knew what was coming and I'd seen the ring and everything, but I didn't know when.

I'm not one for grand gestures or ceremony, so I was shocked he wanted to put so much effort into a big surprise proposal. It was very sweet of him though.

LadyMillil · November 2014

DH believes that a proposal can only be romantic if it is a complete surprise, so he refused to even talk about getting married some day. We had a big fight about something and I told him that I needed to know that he saw a future with me because I didn't want to waste anymore time with a guy that doesn't want to build a life and family with me. He told me then that he did want to marry me in the future, so him proposing wasn't a surprise, but the actual proposal was a surprise up until a few minutes before it happened.

There were some hints that he was planning to propose. He borrowed my car to go to a nearby city and used half a tank of gas, which was way more than he should have used to drive that far. The amount of money in his savings account dropped quite a bit but he hadn't made any big purchases. We were planning to go to Europe in 2013 and he booked his time off to correspond with our anniversary in March even though we had discussed going in the summer. I asked what he wanted to do during our anniversary and he said we should plan to be in Paris that day. I've always wanted to go to Paris. A few days later he casually mentions that you can have dinner at the Eiffel Tower so that we should do that for our anniversary. When we travel he usually picks out his clothes and I pack everything. He insisted on packing a carry on bag. He threw me off by giving me a pretty expensive anniversary gift before we left for Europe. He thought I saw the ring box at airport security and Eiffel Tower security, but I didn't. He planned that after dinner we would go to the top of the Eiffel Tower and his brother would be lurking to video tape the proposal but DH got food poisoning and didn't know if he could make it to the top. As we were leaving the Eiffel Tower he told me that his brother was there and that they had another surprise for me, which is when I knew he was going to propose.

princessleia22 · November 2014

DH and I had been together for about 4 years and had talked about marriage so I knew it was coming at some point, but we never really put a timeline on it and neither of us were in any rush. About a year earlier DH's mom had offered his grandmothers e-ring to him, so I knew he had a ring available to propose with... and that his mom was pushing him to propose.

But, it took him over a year before he finally did. I probably should have suspected it, but didn't really notice the signs until afterward. We went to visit my family for Christmas and he was pretty adamant that he had to have his backpack with him at all times. It seemed a bit odd at the time, but I didn't think much of it. Afterward when I learned it was because he was terrified of losing the ring that was in there, it made more sense. Looking bad, I could see that he had been a bit odd that day, but we were stuck in crowds and I was frustrated, so I didn't even notice much. He missed all his opportunities throughout the day (the fact that I was in a bad mood didn't help), so he ended up just doing it in the parking lot as we were waiting to go back... which I totally wasn't expecting. So, I was completely oblivious to it all.

Beforehand, we had discussed as far as wanting a small wedding and talked about running off to Las Vegas, but that was it. Afterward we talked a little about what we want for the wedding and timeframe, but waited about 3-4 months before really starting to discuss it or making any plans. And we didn't make any hard plans or book anything until about 6 months after getting engaged.

Cookie Pusher · November 2014

I was completely surprised since we'd already been dating over 10 years AND I had already told him a couple of months before hand that I did not want to get married and would likely just say no if he ever got crazy enough to ask.

He ordered the ring when we got back from a work trip, picked it up two weeks later, and proposed as soon as I got home that day. Obviously, I said yes, but a little part of me is kind of angry at myself for doing so since I told him I'd say no, I wanted to say no (not because I didn't want to marry him but because I didn't want the inevitable traditional wedding he would insist on us having), but couldn't bring myself to crush him. A moment of weakness for my big, black heart!

samm1225 · November 2014

I'm unfortunately intuitive, so about a week before he proposed I knew when, where, and with what ring even though we hadn't discussed any specifics, other than wanting to get married at some point. I was still stunned and actually asked if he was proposing though lol. We go for a walk every year on our anniversary and he proposed in the exact spot where he had asked me to be his gf. It was so sweet.

larrygaga · November 2014

Fi and I have been together 9 years when he propsed. We wanted to wait until I graduated from school. I had no idea it was coming because he asked before my last semester of my undergrad. He carried the rjng around for about 6 months working up the courage even though we always talked about getting married and kids. He was so nervous he was sick the day he asked, which I don't understand why since I already basically agreed to marry him! He's very romantic. After all these years he was nervous!

He carried a big joke diamond ring to propose with and the took me down to jewelers ave in Chicago to get me the ring. I picked out a few settings i liked and he choose from that and picked out the stone. So the rjng was mostly a surprise as well

hellosweetie1015 · November 2014

I had no idea. None. We started talking about marriage (aside from his "when we get married" remarks that happened regularly) the night of the fire, and I honestly thought he was just trying to distract me. A couple of weeks after that, I was waiting for him to get off and I asked his roommate if he thought FI was serious about it, because it was a big deal to me - I'd known FI was my person pretty much since the beginning, but he was gunshy about "girlfriend/boyfriend" status, so his sudden jump from "not-boyfriend" to "for real fiance" was really kind of weirding me out. (Seriously. I was awful - the Saturday after the fire he worked a double and I spent the day at the library researching venues to try and get him to backpedal, because it was just so out of character for him.)

He'd planned a trip for the weekend/week after he graduated, because he hadn't been on vacation in a few years and desperately needed it. My BFF and sisters told me that was a made-up reason and he was going to propose. At this point I was already considering myself engaged, and figured I'd gotten my proposal already, so I pretty much ignored everyone about it. I had no idea he'd even gone ring shopping, had no idea he'd been plotting anything other than a nice trip to celebrate his graduation and to get me out of the hotel room into which we (my family and I) were crammed. He did schedule a day full of stuff - breakfast at the Three Broomsticks, a dinner show - but the breakfast was a perk offered by the package he got, and the dinner show was something I knew he wanted to see anyway.

His mother made fun of me for being surprised, haha.

FutureMrsN3312 · November 2014

I had no idea it was coming.

We spoke marriage and knew it was something that was going to eventually happen. For months EVERYONE kept asking me when we were going to get engaged. Wasn't entirely up to me. In the meantime all marriage talk had stopped and he kept making comments like he had no interest.

Fast forward to the holidays...Thanksgiving-No....Christmas-No...NYE-NO...Our Anniversay-NO...Valentines Day-NO...

Finally a week before my bday he did it. He had the ring for months but was waiting until everyone had a free night. After he proposed we went to dinner where both of our families were there to surprise me.

That night I was house/dog sitting and thought we were going out for wings. I had jeans, tshirt, and uggs on. Didn't straighten my hair and barely had any makeup on.

tcnoble · November 2014

I was 110% shocked when it happened. He took me out for a nice dinner, but we are foodies and go out for dinner all the time so I didn't think anything of it.. and it wasn't an anniversary or any special date. We actually spent dinner talking about waiting another year to get engaged. Then, after dessert, there he was down on one knee. I couldn't even tell you what he said, I was so surprised. He had arranged for our best friends and our parents to meet us out at my favorite bar afterwards to celebrate. It was absolutely perfect.

I wouldn't have had it any other way.

My friend picked out her ring, knew when it arrived, and was pushing her then-boyfriend to propose. So when he did, and she acted soooo surprised, I was just like uhh? really? You're shocked? And she had already put a deposit down on a venue (for 8 months later) when she knew the ring was bought.

Maggie0829 · November 2014

I had no idea. H and I had talked about marriage and the future and similar stuff before but proposal or not, marriage or not, I knew he was the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with so I was happy with where we were in life. Also I knew how he was with money and saving I figured a ring, even a ring pop ring, was going to be long off in the distance. Well I was wrong. He planned a weekend down the ocean and I figured it was because of the car and air show happening. Apparently that was his cover for the real reason and that was to propose. I loved that I had no idea that it was coming.

theycallmelinz · November 2014

tcnoble said:

I was 110% shocked when it happened. He took me out for a nice dinner, but we are foodies and go out for dinner all the time so I didn't think anything of it.. and it wasn't an anniversary or any special date. We actually spent dinner talking about waiting another year to get engaged. Then, after dessert, there he was down on one knee. I couldn't even tell you what he said, I was so surprised. He had arranged for our best friends and our parents to meet us out at my favorite bar afterwards to celebrate. It was absolutely perfect.

I wouldn't have had it any other way.

My friend picked out her ring, knew when it arrived, and was pushing her then-boyfriend to propose. So when he did, and she acted soooo surprised, I was just like uhh? really? You're shocked? And she had already put a deposit down on a venue (for 8 months later) when she knew the ring was bought.

I was the same way. It was a Friday and he'd asked me what I wanted for dinner because we usually go out on Fridays. I said it didn't matter. Looking back now I realize why he actually put on nice jeans and a nice shirt, but at the time I remember thinking, "Thank God! A NICE night out! He's not wearing shorts and a t-shirt." =P

mrscaty · November 2014

I knew it was coming because we bought my ring together. I didn't know exactly when the ring was going to come in, though.

The day of, he asked me to go for a walk, and I knew when I got to his house and he was dressed and ready to go that it was probably going to happen. He's never ready on time.

The exact set up was still a complete surprise. He set up a picnic for me with strawberries, champagne, and candles. It was so romantic and adorable.

APDSS22 · November 2014

We had talked about marriage, but the actual proposal was a complete surprise. He has trouble keeping things from me (usually springs my Christmas and birthday presents on me early because he just can't wait.) He convinced me that he was helping repair our friends' sink but we were going out to dinner all together later and our friends were going to pick me up. So I throw on clothes that don't exactly fit great but smell fine because I hadn't done the laundry and go out to meet our friends so they can pick me up to take me to wings.

And my DH pops out with a ring while one of our mutual friends surreptitiously steps out from the bushes with a camera. He had apparently been shopping for a ring that day and got everything sized and fixed up when he found the one. Then he couldn't wait so it had to be done that same day. I was SO surprised and impressed that he managed to surprise me and get such a lovely ring.

lovesclimbing · November 2014

I did. He had asked me prior what I wanted in a ring. We had also talked seriously about the future, although we never actually mentioned the E word or the M word. We were long distance for the summer while he was away for work. I went to visit him once. He had asked me about a ring on the phone a few weeks before I went down there. I had a very good idea he would propose when I visited, and he did.

rnsoon · November 2014

Ha! That was my thread

I have another friend who has a friend who basically told her fiance he was proposing, when he was doing it, and planned a vacation so he could do it on vacation. That's a little more crazy than my post on the E board. Note: This girl is NOT my friend. I was just told about her, lol.

Adding that I do know it's coming. I know my ring has been purchased. Just waiting for him to actually be in the states and decide when the time is right for him to do it.

ETA: I have casually browsed wedding dress sites, just because I like to look at them, but I have NOT done any sort of planning. It feels wrong and crazy to do that before being engaged.

charlieyankee03 · November 2014

I knew it was coming eventually because we had discussed getting married, but I was caught totally off guard when he actually did it.

He had recently moved out to San Francisco for work and was commuting back and forth. I was going out there to visit about once a month. My second visit out there we rented a car and decided to drive down the coast and see the sights. We went for a hike near Monterey and FI got really upset that the first parking lot was full. He said there was a neat view he wanted to show me, and wasn't happy that we had to park on the other side of the park instead. I should have known when he got irrationally angry about a parking space lol.

We walked around the other side of the park and found a beautiful overlook. FI found a couple and asked them to take our picture. Apparently at this time he told them he was going to propose. I was totally shocked. I always thought I'd be able to tell when it was going to happen, but he was cool as a cucumber.

LadyMillil · November 2014

houndpuppy1 said:

Ha! That was my thread

I have another friend who has a friend who basically told her fiance he was proposing, when he was doing it, and planned a vacation so he could do it on vacation. That's a little more crazy than my post on the E board. Note: This girl is NOT my friend. I was just told about her, lol.

Adding that I do know it's coming. I know my ring has been purchased. Just waiting for him to actually be in the states and decide when the time is right for him to do it.

ETA: I have casually browsed wedding dress sites, just because I like to look at them, but I have NOT done any sort of planning. It feels wrong and crazy to do that before being engaged.

BSC sis planned her entire wedding before she was engaged. She also bought her E ring and gave it to her BF with a proposal deadline.

Did you know your proposal was coming?

Re: Did you know your proposal was coming?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards