Engagement Rings (with Proposal Stories)

[munchkin]

Once again, we've discussed this before but I think it's a fun thing to read every so often. How did he propose? Did you know it was coming? Did you give him hints before about the ring, or did he pick it out himself? If you could change anything about your ring, what would it be?

[Marge129]

I've told this story a thousand times, but I never get sick of it! This time I'll tell the short version, though.

Jerry proposed to me back in June. He rented a car (a 06 Dodge Charger ) for the weekend. We had plans to go out to the fanciest restaurant in town and then to see Oklahoma at the local theater. He proposed to me after dinner, before dessert. The lady at the next table started crying and ordered us Champagne to celebrate. It was so sweet! I knew it was going to happen at some point that night, but I wasn't sure when. I think he picked the perfect time... and I couldn't have asked for a better evening.

As for my ring... I wouldn't change a thing about it. I picked it out, so I love it. My only issue with it at the moment is that my fingers are swollen and I can't wear it. I try to whenever I leave the house, but on some days it's just impossible. I'll go back to wearing it 24/7 after the baby's born and I start losing some of this weight.

[roseprincess]

he wanted me to pick it out but I refused. I told him I wanted to be surprised. He insisted that I help him, so my compromise was to show him pictures of rings I liked (and rings I found fugly) online. That way at least he had some ideas. I showed him modern designs and antiques, so he'd have a wide range of styles to choose from and it'd be HIS pick, not mine. We did this over the phone & online, since he was in Sacramento and I in Portland. I'd tried to convince him to get me a simple band but he wouldn't go for that either...

Anyway, I thought he was probably going to propose soon b/c we'd already "set aside" a date at church (my pastor is ridiculously busy, and no one else would do to marry us) and we were going to visit his parents in VA. I figured he'd either propose Memorial Day weekend, or right after we got to VA (the following weekend). Well, after he got here we'd planned to go walking in the zoo and then we had tickets to go see my favorite band in concert. Instead of the zoo, he drove to the Rose Garden and took me to the spot where we went the first time he visited. I don't remember much after he dropped to his knee. He got me this gorgeous ring that still overwhelms me, it's so beautiful. He'd even shown it to my best friend, my pastor... a bunch of people had seen it, LOL!

The only thing I'd change about my ring is that the center stone is set pretty high and I'm a klutz, so I'm always worried I'm gonna break one of the prongs or tear something with it. I'd like to get it lowered but I'm not sure if it'll look good (allow enough light to hit the stone, etc).

[feb-bride]

I'm envious of all the good proposal stories out there! It never occurred to me to be disappointed in my (lack of) formal proposal until I started hearing/reading about all of the wonderfully romantic, thoughful proposals that women have received.

I wasn't actually ever proposed to. On Valentine's Day in 2001, my husband arranged for a sitter for the kids. He drove me to the mall, joked around that we were there because he thought I wanted new shoes, looked at the store locator, walked up to Zales (all with me trailing behind him) and went to the engagement ring display. I tried on a few rings, picked the one I liked, he paid for it, and we walked out of the store. When it was ready to be picked up (had to be sized), I went alone to pick it up. No proposal, nothing. The feeling I got from him was actually along the lines of, "I bought you the *#&@W#* engagement ring, now get off my back."

I know he loves me; he just doesn't think that marriage is necessary. Even after four years of marriage, he still feels that way. We're only married because I wanted our relationship to feel like it wasn't something that one or the other of us could easily walk away from. I wanted a feeling of security that simply living together was not giving me.

Sorry - I know this was supposed to be a more upbeat thread. But - you asked for stories, so here's mine!

[SuzyBride]

Here's my story, copied and pasted from another page:

Josh proposed on December 23, 2004. It was absolutely perfect! We were out at his grandparents farm in Ogden. He called me early that morning to see if I wanted to go with him to put some hay out for the cows. I told him alright, I'll be ready in a minute. I love going out there, its so calm and peaceful. I jumped up, threw on some old jeans and my brothers toboggan and camo shirt. We went by his Mamaw and Papaw's house first to see if there was anything else that needed to be done while we were out there. We visited for a minute and Mamaw told us that a baby calf had been born and gave me a camera to take some pictures of her. It was such a beautiful day.. it had snowed the night before so everything was covered with a blanket of white and there was a bright blue clear sky with a big shining sun. But it was so cold! I had to put on some of Josh's coveralls just to keep warm. We got to the farm and I started snapping pictures while he tried to start the tractor. We had been there a while and Josh was getting frustrated because he couldn't get the tractor to cooperate with him, but I was just enjoying the atmosphere. Next thing I know he is standing in front of me trying to take the camera out of my hand. I looked at him like he was crazy wondering what in the world he was doing. He took the camera and started to pull something out of his pocket and began to bend down on one knee. I immediately knew what was about to happen and started to get teary eyed. He looked up at me and said simply, "Suzanne, will you marry me?" I of course said yes, then we were both crying! It was so perfect, it was so "us." No fuss, not a big to-do over anything, no explanation of why, just a simple question and a simple answer. I had never told Josh this, but I had always hoped that he would propose on the farm. It is such a meaningful place with so much sentimental value to him and his family. It's my dream that we wind up there one day. Just taking care of the garden and the cows and living a happy, simple life. His Mamaw took this picture after we got back to their house. It's the only one we have of that day. We were eating ham sandwiches for lunch. As you can tell he must love me alot to propose to me looking like that!!

http://comp.uark.edu/~cspain/scan.jpg

Josh managed to find the most perfect engagement ring and I am so thankful that I am the one he wants to wear it. It is a single round brilliant solitaire diamond set on a simple white gold band. It's beautiful! When we started thinking about his wedding band, all he could say is, "nothing shiny!" I tried to convince him that the shine would wear off, but had no luck. So I got him a white gold band with a hammered finish and a bit of shine around the edges. My wedding band is white gold with a very small channel of round diamonds, very classic.

[wembley]

I had car troubles the week before, as my car was in the shop getting a new engine. He volunteered to drive me to work until my car was whole again, which meant I had to get up early so he could make it to work on time too. I'm not so much a morning person so he kept trying to encourage me to hurry up. It was Monday morning and I was actually ready first. He was slow and in the bed room. I half fell asleep in the living room waiting for him. I heard him call my name and I thought he wanted me to find his shoes or something like that and I was starting to get frustrated. He came out of the room with a smile as I was about to tell him that I haven't worn his shoes so I don't know where they are. I wasn't able to get it out because he came over and got down on one knee. He told me that he loved me and asked me to marry him and be his wife.

It was just his style. He knew that I didn't want it on a holiday or something like that, just an ordinary day so that's what he did.

I knew that it would be coming in the near future but I didn't think it would happen then. He knew when I wanted to get married and he had me convinced that he was going to hold out as long as he could.

I did help with the ring. He wanted to surprise me with when he gave it to me but he wanted help with what to get. I think he would have done just fine, I just gave him a push in one direction and he did a fabulous job. I wouldn't change it at all.

[munchkin]

Don't worry Feb, we like all stories!

[Heather]

I haven't told "our" story in a very long time and I'm still going to have to hold off. I'm furious with my husband right now and I don't want to feel guilty so I'm not going to get all mushy right now.

[munchkin]

to Heather. PM me if you need to talk

[Steph]

Uh oh!!! the husband is in the dog house? What happened? Email me if you need to vent!

[Jacqueline]

him perpose

i got down on 1 knee (a week before middle daughter was born)

it was the 29 feb and we where at a ladies weekend so i was in a long evening dress and i took the mic and the dance floor, called him up to stand with me and got down one 1 knee big bump as well and ased if he would marrie me.

he needed to help me up as i could not get up by my slef (oh and just in case there was any dought he said yes)

[555Ann555]

Wow it seems there must be something in the air this week. Is it a full moon?

[Heather]

Thanks guys - I don't want to high-jack the ring thread, but all is well. Hubby is just so much more laid back than I am (and I'm pretty laid back) & doesn't seem to get stressed at all about what has gone on this past week. On one hand that's great - he's always been my rock. On the other hand it's freakin' annoying. I just kind of blew up at him last night and he really didn't deserve it.

[Emily]

Well here goes mine - we were back in NZ (our home country) and my husband had planned a day out on the lake for us, it was the middle of winter in NZ but it was the most stunning day. Damons parents and his grandparents were coming out for the day trip aswell as his two best mates and there girlfriends. He had hired this lovely big launch for the day. When we were on the way to the Lake I was trying to convince Damon to let me go skiing for the day as the Mountains were only another hours drive from the lake so I was suggesting that I could drop them all off and they could go fishing and shooting while I went skiing for the day - little did I know what he had planned. As I said earlier it was the most beautiful day, the skies were blue and there wasnt a cloud in sight and the lake was so calm it looked like a mirror, the mountains were in the distance and looks stunning! So we get out on the boat and the boys did some clay-bird shooting off the back, then we did a bit of foshing, then we all sit down for lunch and everyone is milling around the back of the boat and Damon calls me out and I wonder why everyone is just standing there looking at me - anyway he gets down on bended knee and produced the most beautiful gold and diamond solitare ring and asks me if I would marry him .... I am so shocked by the proposal that I instantly respond with 'are you joking?' then when I realise he is serious I burst into tears and give him a huge hug and kiss and respond with a very definite YES! He is such a sweetie - and continues to stun me with how romatic he can be. When he called me out onto the back of the boat just before he asked me - he had waited until the boat had turned around so that the mountains were behind us, it was just perfect and totally exceeded my expectations of a proposal!

Oh and by the way I caught the two biggest fish that day - well you could say three considering I had bagged myself a fiance too!

[michaelsbride]

Hey everyone! great stories!

I have kind of a mixture of everyones. I had told Michael exactly what kind of ring i wanted... but we ended up picking it out together one evening... the evening after he asked my parents permission.

We got home, the ring was too big and the jeweler wasnt going to be in till monday. I was expecting him to hold onto it until a proposal later but we opened up some champagne to celebrate the purchase and what was to come. We sat in my rocking chair on the front porch watching my kitty play in the grass. He pulled it out from behind him and said "its pretty huh?" my response... mmm hmm. "you want to wear it dont you". again... mmm hmmm. "you gonna marry me?" eloquent i know but mmm hmm was my response... so he put it on me and we sat there holding each other till the sun went down, the champagne was flat, and the cat had long before crawled inside to sleep.

simple and totally "me".

[TheaterDiva1]

Mine's a two-parter!

1. DH was in the living room and reading his e-mail. He left the room for a few minutes - with a mail opened from a reception place we had discussed (I know, shame on me for reading his e-mail, but he left it there with me sitting right there!). DH comes back - just as a commercial came on TV for that same place! That was freaky. I joked that it was a sign and he's better propose, and he goes "Well, if I do, I mean it." I'm like "Okay" in my "bring it on" tone. We wet back and forth on that a few times when he said "Well, I already ordered the ring." That shut me up. It took a few minutes to figure out he was serious!

2. About a week later. We went into Mnahattan to see a play and had a few hours to kill. DH wanted to go up in the Empire State Building (and as a Queens native, he NEVER wants to do touristy stuff like that). It had been raining, and it was still foggy, so we couldn't see the top of the building. A tour guide kep telling people that while the observation deck was open, there was no visibility. DH asks "but we can still go up?" Clueless me: "Didn't you hear what she just said? There's no visibility!" After the play, we went out for dessert and ended up at Rocco's on 23rd (the place from the TV show The Restaurant). We both watched the show, and there were a couple of episodes where people had got engaged. He handed me a poem he wrote and had me follow while he read it aloud. It was about sharing a life, and the last line was "Do you... with me?" I nodded, then he got down on one knee, held out the ring and asked me to marry him.

Oh - and I had picked out the ring, and while DH wishes he could've got a bigger stone, I love it just the way it is. And while it's not something I'd necessarily change, I had trouble getting used to the diamond sticking out of my finger, and I'd accidentally scratch other people (or myself).

PS - Our marriage has outlasted the restaurant!

[555Ann555]

Aw those are lovely stories I love reading these

[Marrying_the_Good_Husband]

What sweet stories!

After dating for 6 months we discussed and planned on getting engaged and moving in 6 months later--figured we should at least wait a year! But Dave didn't want the ring to be a surprise. He figured this is MY ring I'm going to wear FOREVER, so it was important to him that it's EXACTLY what I want. Then we decided to go on a cruise and figured we could get a good deal in St. Thomas but we wanted to price rings here first. I started looking around on the internet for ideas--he started looking around in stores. I got the exact vision of the ring I wanted, though I didn't actually SEE one that really fit the bill. We went on our cruise after dating for 10 months and the stop in St. Thomas we went to tons of jewelers. I described what I was looking for and no one had anything like it, until this one guy is like, I know exactly what you want! And he pulled out all these boxes and boxes of rings until all of a sudden...Ta-da! It was THE ring!!! It's perfect! EXACTLY what I had envisioned! Most of you have seen it: The center stone is just over one carat princess cut, surrounded by another 2/3 carat diamonds in a square bezel around the stone and on the very thin band and in a v on the sides of the ring. Obviously, I wouldn't change a THING about it--it's perfectly me. Plus, such a good deal in St. Thomas that this ring appraised for double what we bought it for, and he got it for much less than he planned on spending. So, my proposal wasn't formal. We brought the ring back home to be set and sized, and I actually picked it up from the jeweler, since it was out by me, and I gave it to him to give back to me! But he said some very sweet things and asked me to marry him and made it "official." Oh, the whole time on the cruise I kept wanting to look at it, but he kept it locked in the safe--afraid I was going to drop the loose diamond if I took it out.

So, no surprise proposals here. We've both been married before, so neither one of us would have DREAMED of the whole spontaneously popping the question, thing. A lot of talk and planning the marriage came first--getting the ring was just the natural progression, as we already were planning our marriage.

[Solar_Flare]

A few months after we started dating, we got serious about each other and I even moved in. He swore up and down that he doesn't ever want to get married again because he went through an awful marriage and an even worse divorce. I said that would be fine and we'd do the long-term committed relationship thing. A few months after that he tells me if he ever got married again it would be to me. Came as a shock because he was so anti-marriage. I mean really anti-marriage.
About 2 months later he leaves on the truck with his mentor to do his mentorship for his truck driving job. About 5 days out they get a load coming through and he *sneaks* off the truck without the company knowing and his mentor delivers the load by himself. During that time I got to spend the day with him and he keeps asking me questions like 'did I miss him', 'do I love him', and 'promise me there is noone else' (ex cheated on him). He did this all day and night long! This is the point where apparently he asked his mom what she thought of me and what she thought of him marrying me. Basically he got told from several people, that apparently if he didn't marry me he'd get beaten black and blue
So he finishes his mentorship and comes home for a few days in June. On one of these days we go up to my mom's so she can say goodbye before we go out on the road. She's moving at this time and I go into the house to see how much she got done (she is standing in the garage). I thought Greg followed me inside but when I turned around he was gone. (Apparently this was when he was asking my mom's permission and showed her the ring.) We take some stuff over to my mom's new house and we're sitting in the living room. He gets up and walks over to me. I turn my head to look at him and he goes down on one knee and asks "Jennifer will you marry me?". I actually started laughing at first because I thought it was so funny how he changed his mind about marriage but the tears started following down too. I couldn't speak at all so I just gave him my hand and he puts the ring on. My mom doesn't wait 2 minutes before she is calling the family and telling everyone she knows.
The next day we go to his mom's and stepdad's house and while we're standing outside his mom keeps giving him this weird look. Finally Greg gets the hint and says "Jenn show them what I got you". I hold out my hand and you think they won the lottery or something
The ring is perfect and I couldn't have picked out a better one. He thought he did bad though and seriously thought I would like white gold better. I kept telling him that I prefer yellow gold for an engagement/wedding ring and he did good but he wouldn't stop going 'if you don't like it we can exchange it' or 'are you sure thats the one you want'

[kenzies_mama]

Such cute stories, ours isn't really and he never actually asked.

We'd been talking about it a couple months and had pretty much decided to he told me to pick out a setting before Christmas, which gave me like 2 months. The problem was he was still paying on a past engagement ring, he was engaged when I met him, and wanted to pay it off before he bought a new one. So we tried to sell it with no luck.
His mom wanted to see what it was worth so she made an appointment with a private jeweler. Well the day beofre the appointment she calls and says, so you wanna go with, I decided to but thought it was a little odd.
When we got there she had another ring with her, her grandmothers. She tells me she wants me to have her stone, she's going to have her grandmothers placed in her setting and I need to pick out a setting. She then orders the ex's multistone ring chopped up and made into earrings for the baby and I.

Well I had no idea when the rings would be in and finished. So I just waited and figured he's do something nice. But three weeks later my old roommate became engaged, to celebrate between us girls we all decided to go to dinner later that week. Evidently it was not ok for me to go with a naked finger because the next day I'm sitting checking my e-mail and he sits down with the baby on his lap. She keeps hitting me on the head with something and I turn to him and say could you control her please and she's holding the box, but he never said anything we just smiled and laughed cause I was so irritated when I turned to face him.

[sunhart3]

Sorry... this is going to be long! The day that Matthew proposed I had no idea of the suprise I had instore for me. Infact, I thought I was going to be the one doing the suprising! I had gotten let off of work early and planned to head down to Lakewood where Matt was spending some quality time with my parents. I informed my mom, but told her to keep it a secret so I could suprise the boys. When I showed up everyone was very suprised and happy to see me. I decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and lay out in the sun... eat some potato salad and spend time with the three people I love the most! Matt mentioned to me that he wanted to go take some photos underneath the giant oak trees we have on our property. That area has been one of my favorite spots all of my life, my dad even installed an old wooden swing to one of the trees for one of my birthday's. So we started to head over to that area, and my mom started snapping photos before we even got to the trees and swing... but if you know my mother, you know this is typical of her, so I wasn't that thrown off by it. My mom was standing infront of the swing, and she was going a bit overboard with the photos, so I turned to my dad and gave him the "is mom crazy?" look. When I turned back around she had stepped aside to reveal a box sitting on the swing. It really took me a minute to connect the ring sitting there, with the purpose it held. I'm pretty sure I said, "what's that doing heeere..... OHHHHHH!!!" Well that was the best proposal I could have ever asked for. Matthew did a fabulous job. He told me when we went ring shopping that he already knew how he was going to do it, but wouldn't give me a single clue (and all of you that know me know that keeping a secret from me is tough!), but in the end I am glad he didn't tell me. I am so thankful that my parents were involved in the process, it meant so much to know that my parents fully support Matthew and I, especially my dad. I am deffinitely a daddy's girl... as Matt has figured out, and he can be quite scary or intimidating to guys... but all went very well! That is one of the single most special days of my life to count. Oh.... and obviously I said YES!

[Kim&Bob2004]

I think I have told the story before but here it goes again, short version.

Bob took me outside and sat me down underneath an old cherry tree (at a mutual friends in the Bremerton area) and got down on one knee and took my hand in his and said he loved me more than anything and would I be his wife. He picked out the ring by himself and it is lovely. Not my most percious gift from him (the most percious is his love) but one a cherish nonetheless. I remember the sun was shining. Afterwards we went to a local park and hiked some of the trails and then he brought me by the house and we went to eat at the Olive Garden before he took me back over to Bremerton to a friends house (She was a BM and her daughter was a FG in our wedding). I remember we talked for a long time on a bench looking out toward the sound.

[breezy]

[quote=Kim&Bob2004] before he took me back over to Bremerton to a friends houseQUOTE]

Hey, my brother is stationed at Bremerton Well, kinda. He is under way right now. He is assigned to a submarine. So for about another 2-3 months we have no contact (email, phone, letters) with him.

[Steven Galvez]

Quarterly BUMP for the new members...

[Robyn Lynn]

Thanks for bumping this, Steve -- I hadn't seen it before.

TJ and I had been talking about getting married since he just joined the Army. I knew he was buying a ring, but didn't know when. One Friday night I picked him up for a dance and his nephew told me he had bought the ring I didn't get it until the next evening. We had been to a wedding reception and were home watching TV and he asked if i was sure i wanted to marry him. I told him yes. Then he waited awhile and piked up my hand and asked which was the ring finger. I told him and asked why and he said"so i can give you this" and brought out the ring and then he asked and I said yes!

About the ring.... it isn't real. Not even the band, It's gold plated, but I didn't know (I knew the stones weren't real), so it has since tarnished and left a green ring People ask me, though, if it is an antique!! So it's cool. It has 5 marquis cut stones.
TJ was going to get me a real ring for Christmas, but he co-signed on a friend's who had not made a payment yet so he couldn't buy mne. but he showed it to me and i did not like it. it was square cut -- the only cut i don't like. So I asked him to buy me a wedding band with diamonds instead and that's what he did!!