Ahhh… the proposal. I imagine this subject will have a fair few of you feeling a little sick. In my job I’m privy to the plans, details and fears of this momentous occasion. Then on the flip side I hear from my female friends what really happened / what they wanted to happen / what they didn’t want to happen, and then I guess also being a woman myself I have a female handle on all this romance business.
So here are a few stories, hints and suggestions…
There is a friend of mine (who shall remain nameless…) who has rejected her boyfriend’s proposals on two occasions because they simply weren’t good enough. Now before all you men out there get your knickers in a knot about demanding women, I can’t read her mind, etc etc.. his proposals went like this:
First attempt: Drunk in car (sitting in it, not driving it) at someone else’s wedding. Turns off interior light for romantic effect no less! “So, I was thinking maybe we should just get married too.”
Second attempt: To girlfriend in kitchen washing up dinner dishes. “So, shall we do it then?”
See? Pretty hopeless no? Now I know we women can be a little bit of a confusing mystery but romance is simple and always gratefully recieved. You don’t need to take us on a helicopter flight around Sydney, stopping for a champagne breakfast and a proposal on a beautiful rocky headland mid flight, as one other friend did. No, you don’t have to. You could just pick up the engagement ring and wait until your love is on the toilet and shout through the door “Do you want this ring now then?”, as someone else did.
Now those are extremes, the first one an extreme that not all of us can afford, especially after spending probably more than you wanted to on the ring. ; ) But the message is, make an effort – it doesn’t have to be an expensive effort, or a herculean effort, just an effort. However you shouldn’t stress yourself to the extent that you both have a massive arguement because you are trying to drag your girlfriend up a mountain in winter because you have hand carved and lugged a stone tablet up there last week with the words ‘Marry me’ engraved on it. (True story!)
Keep it genuine – something you are comfortable with and that she won’t be terribly embarassed by – don’t get a stripper to come to her birthday party in front of all her friends and family, with the ring hidden between his…. (Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!)
And, don’t leave the ring in your trousers pocket… especially the trousers you changed out of at the last minute and which she chucked in the washing machine before you hurried her out the door…
Good luck!