The first step to getting married is getting engaged. And all romantic engagements start with a memorable marriage proposal. These sweet, out-of-the-ordinary and altogether unforgettable marriage proposals made us smile, and even shed a few tears. We hope they’ll do the same for you, whether you’re newly married, engaged or a bride-to-be…to-be.
“Yes. Now give me my iPad.” ’Nuff said.
Sure, we expected zaniness, inappropriate behavior and mishaps aplenty when Michael finally proposed to Holly. But not a firm tug at our heartstrings. Surprise, surprise. (Full episode @ link, you can FF to the proposal.)
The brilliant Sarah Pease of New York-based Brilliant Event Planning is a true marriage proposal mastermind. And she’s done it again—this time for a travel-happy couple.
And, of course, who could forget this Houston proposal classic, courtesy Thomas Markle Jewelers? Not these lovebirds, that’s for sure.
Let us know your own romantic proposal story. Comment on this post!
Nice post and nice photos!
And for those who ever dream to propose in Paris, France, maybe at the Eiffel Tower, I can also suggest our website : http://www.proposeinparis.com
About 30 proposal packages are available, on our website, to propose in Paris in a really creative and romantic way…
Nicolas, Founder of “Propose in Paris”
(Prepare yourself, this is long…I like to talk anyway, and when it’s about getting to marry Collin, it’s even worse.)
Collin and I had been talking and praying about marriage for a few months, and he had taken me ring shopping on a few occasions, so as we headed toward the holidays, I had an inkling (and was hoping and praying REAL hard) that a proposal may be coming soon. The weekend before my final exam, Collin and I were supposed to go out to dinner with his roommate and now-best-man, Thomas, and his girlfriend Liz, but the dinner got postponed until the night of my final. That week, Collin told me that Thomas had picked a fancy place for us to eat and that I’d need to dress up. I dared to dream that dinner was a cover-up, but that week I got asked to babysit on Saturday, and when I asked Collin if we had plans, he said nothing special was going on that weekend. Bummer.
Collin picked me up after my test on Friday, ready for dinner and handsome as ever, and we went back to my place so I could get ready for dinner. I let myself daydream that Collin would ask me to marry him, but my hopes were dashed when he got an e-mail from work and told me he needed to run by the office to e-mail a few files on the way to dinner. Surely not something he’d let happen if he was going to pop the question, no matter how crazy his work is. I was slightly bummed, but still excited about dinner with Thomas and Liz, so I told myself to stop thinking about getting engaged…
When we got downtown, Collin parked the car and told me to come with him since I hadn’t seen his office in the Chase Bank Building(which is one of two he works in). We got in the elevator, and my mind started racing again when he pushed the button for the top floor. We stepped out on a floor where a sign said no public visitors allowed beyond…but Collin had a key and we got to go in special elevators and he hit the top floor AGAIN. I was about to pee my pants/dress with excitement. The top floor of the tallest building in Houston…surely something exciting was about to go down. I held my breath. The doors opened…
Offices. Boring, classic mahogany furniture. Nothing romantic in sight. Definitely needed to stop getting carried away with myself.
We walked into a conference room where Collin opened his computer bag and told me to enjoy the view while he sent the e-mail. I turned and realized the meeting spaces actually led into a tall, beautiful atrium with marble floors and enormous windows that afforded a breathtaking view of the entire city. After admiring the view for a few seconds, I turned around to see Collin with an adorable smirk on his face, and I realized I had walked RIGHT BY a pathway of rose petals! I squealed, grabbed his hand, and followed the little pathway to the center of the atrium where more petals made the shape of a heart. He grabbed my hips and positioned me right in the middle and got down on one knee. He told me that he loved me so much and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. Then, he asked me to marry him! He did it so quickly I didn’t even have time to cry (which, if you know me well, is a miracle). I said yes a billion times and hugged and kissed him. After a while, he said, “Don’t you want to see the ring?” Oh, right…obviously! He placed the gorgeous sparkler on my finger and we hugged some more, then he showed me the wine and roses he had for us there. We hugged and kissed and laughed and prayed and enjoyed the view, then cuddled up with a glass of wine until it was time to leave for dinner.
Collin surprised me and took me to Mark’s on Westheimer (where I’d been wanting to go for months). The food was amazing and the service was fantastic. We just sat there not believing we were engaged, but at the same time feeling like it was the most natural thing in the world. Collin told me all the secrets about how he had gotten the ring on our 7-year-anniversary and how he had asked my dad’s permission to marry me. It was fun. 🙂
After dinner, Collin said we had another surprise stop. We started driving toward our folks’ side of town, but after a while I realized we weren’t actually headed toward either of their houses. Instead, Collin pulled in to Willie’s Icehouse, the burger place where we had our first date in high school. (Presh, I know.) As if I didn’t already think the night was amazing, we walked in and I saw my sister (who I’d thought was in Austin), my whole family, Collin’s family, and a ton of our friends. We all hugged and got excited and passed around champagne, and THAT’s when I cried.
Here is our beautiful proposal from Charles’ point of view which we call “The Big Plan”, ENJOY!:
When Charlene and I met we fell in love almost instantly. For most of our relationship we talked about the perfect engagement and I would often joke about proposing to her in front of a small wedding chapel in Vegas and then getting married immediately after. Charlene always wanted four key elements to be included when I proposed which were her friends, her family, my family, and a beautiful ring. Sounds easy but it were so far from it since my family lives in Maryland and Virginia and most of her family lives in Nigeria, Canada, and all over the world. So naturally I recruited some help from her Mom and Dad, her sisters, her nephew Marcus, her closest friends and last but not least my sister Toni.
My first step to the BIG plan was to set a date and Charlene’s mom and my sister suggested February would be a good time but after Valentine’s Day so it wouldn’t be so obvious. The date sounded great, but I kept replaying the scene in my head on New Year’s Day when Charlene cried because there was no proposal and gave me a deadline of January 31st. Yeah, I pushed my luck.
The next step was getting everyone to Houston without Charlene finding out. We booked hotels and flights for all of her family and mine for four weeks while she would nag and ask me if we would ever get engaged. The third step was getting THE ring. Charlene’s ring had to be perfect so her 6 year old nephew Marcus and I went out and picked out the perfect rock. The process was easy, when I asked Marcus which one to get he said “the big shiny one” and I wrote the check. With her sisters final approval the ring was ready.
The last step was getting Charlene away from home on that day and to keep her busy, we all know how nosy she is. With the help of her best friends Ijeoma and Vivian, they were able to plan a ladies day out for her. Next I had to start an argument with her so she would be so mad she wouldn’t call me for the rest of the day. That was easy to do so I told her I couldn’t propose to her until June, done!
Now it was time to bring it all together so on February 20, 2010 all of her close family and my family met at her parents’ house to do a traditional Nigerian Introduction. Shortly after most of her friends and our Pastor arrived it was show time. Remember that Charlene was out with the girls, so Ijeoma made up a story to bring her back to the house, and as soon as she walked in she was shocked. She immediately knew and started crying and smiling. I walked her to the center of the room, and as Shalanda finished singing her favorite song “Dangerously in Love” I got down on one knee and proposed. It was just like she dreamed of, with her family and friends around and a beautiful ring. She was so overwhelmed her Godmother had to shout out”Answer him Charlene!” She said Yes twice.