My Proposal idea... but how do i initiate it?

[jeffsentra]

Hi Everyone,
I am finally about to propose hopefully this friday after dating my girlfriend for 1.5 yrs. I had some really awesome idears but that was for the summer and now that it is fall and colder I can''t do that. One of them was to go up to Muskoka (in ontario canada) which is a beautiful place and go to a rock face that we have climbed and watch the sunset then propose to her. I already told her i was going to do that but couldn''t any more because of the season. So my next idea is to take her to a museum in toronto and have them somehow put the ring or some sort of thing into a display case so that we can go and look at it then i can propose. Now my question is what should I put in the display case? I was thinking perhaps the ring but then it would be difficult to get it out if it is in there. What do you think?
Maybe a picture of the two of us? Or a sheet of paper that looks old and says will you marry me?

Now who do I approach at the museum? I am hoping to do it at the Royal ontario museum but I have no clue of who to talk to about this. Should I talk with a curator or a manager? If they wont let me do it in a display area I was thinking mayb ethey might have a room i could rent to do it then have a "private" display set up.

I''d love to have you r input and if yoou could do it fast because friday is approaching quickly
Thanks!!!
Jeff

 

[SoonIHope]

Hi Jeff!

That sounds like a really sweet idea!!! I would maybe put a picture of you two AND something saying "Will you marry me?" I have no idea how to go about asking for permission at the museum, but I just wanted to say that your girlfriend is certainly lucky to have you planning such a creative and romantic way of proposing!

Congratulations, and make sure you keep us updated on what you choose and how it goes!!

 

[door knob solitaire]

I agree with Albicocca...what an effort you are going too! What a great guy your bride to be has!!

My thought is don't be discouraged if the entry to a case is not permitted. A framed picture can either be hanging on a wall...or propped up on a easel. (there may be a convenient easel used for announcements that can be utilized for this.) The display case would be reeeely cool. But I think the other item within the case...may have such a value that only white gloved guarded personel can open. That just may be a tough one to achieve.

If your case entry is not allowed...maybe the frame thing...you would have a momento to use later...maybe your future wedding photo or engagement photo will be great. (You could use a photo ...present day or even images of either of you as little tots. Or you could go to a printer and have a gold printed words in edwardian script and just have the question itself printed on it. An elaborate baroque type gilded frame...and matted ...) That would be a great souvenior as you leave the museum. Just an idea to be armed with if your display entrance is not received well with the curator.

Maybe there is a fabulous painting that you both admire...a small paper tag attached over the description plaque may be a cool way to get this done...that is IF you have no cooperation with the musem. You need to go in ahead of time anyway...to plot your plan...measure the plaque then.

You asked who to call...there is usually a consumer relations office...and there may be a secretary to the curator as well.

Please post your progress ...I am a junkie...need my update fix!!

 

[valeria101]

Wow! I love this one!

A picture of you two would be cute, and you could always write the question on the back (so that not every passer by gets puzzled). Or, is there some object with special meaning to both of you that could be added to the museum display as a very temporary exhibit? You wouldn''t even have to handle it yourself - just create the proper moment.


It may work easier if:

You find some sort of exhibit that does not contain high value pieces that need special security. An antiquary''s gallery with an open display that does not require securitized cases may cooperate more readily than a paranoid public institution. Not to mention the bureaucracy reduced by orders of magnitude. Entering into a rather unexpected venue (dunno, some sort of exhibit that she does not know you to be keen on) might add to the suspense in the end.

Maybe a museum might be amenable to let you temporarily ''vandalize'' one of their information displays (if they have charts or panels explaining things inside exhibitions), but I would avoid dealing with a large institution - it is rather unlikely they''d be amenable to this, unless Canadian curators are 3000% friendlier than the stiff & obsessive types I have met elsewhere.

Btw. I don''t know about local museums & galleries, but you might want to find something not likely to be crowded (manuscripts exhibit in a library?... something like that perhaps).



Sorry for the ramble, your story got me dreaming a bit

Hope it works even better for you.

 

[door knob solitaire]

Oh, another added suggestion:

There are fabulous computer programs that allow you to take a photograph say of your girlfriend and the image the program creates is a wonderful creation that appears to be an oil painting, or a water color, or a pastel...you can even Andy Warhol an image and that would be cool and keeping with the theme and your interests. Some of these recreations have a Monet quality, or other masters that is undeniably recognizable. That would be fun.

This would be inappropriate...but I have seen computer wizards attach a face to the Mona Lisa. I don''t recommend that one for your project (too humorous)...but it does help you picture how computers may help you on you endeavor. If you have an image of her say standing....you can decrease it and have it superimposed onto a print of a famous landscape.

On the placque it might read..."On October 12, 2005 Tiffany Amber agreed to be Jasons wife..." Oh the possiblities are endless.
..Sorry to hijack this post, I so love the excitement!

 

[jeffsentra]

Well... I have some good news and bad news. I called the museum and spoke to the sales director who does facility rentals etc.... They don''t do this sort of thing anymore but apparently there used to be a curator who did but they are no longer there. She said I can rent a small room for $1000! too much so i said no thanks. So I decided to approach a curator directly... I didn''t know who to contact. I found out there is a herbarium attached to the museum. So I decided to call a curator there and here is what i suggested to him
"I am interested in proposing to my girlfriend at your herbarium. My idea is to browse one of your collections - for example, if you have any ornamental seeds or if you have a collection of photographs of flowers - then I would leave a picture of the two of us in the display case with this (or wherever you keep these things) with an excerpt of some sort asking her to marry me. So all it would involve on your part is to allow us to have access to see one of your collections. It can be any collection. I am hoping to do this Friday afternoon. If you have any questions or would like further clarification please feel free to email me back or call me."
So anyways.. I''m not too sure on all the specifics. Hopefully I can see this herbarium and see if there is a nice spot to do it. My idea is to perhaps have some seeds and something that says something like" Let''s plant these seeds to begin a new life together" or if you have any other idears....
I still have to get it all approved by the curator. so we shall see what happens.

 

[jeffsentra]

Here is a picture of the Herbarium... it''s not as nice as I had hoped... do you think I should still go through with this place? Does the setting have to be perfect? hehehe I guess I could make that setting nice by adding some flowers or something. Hmmmm what do you think?

 

[jeffsentra]

Here''s a picture of the kind of archives they have...

 

[zdrastvootya]

Seems a little "sterile" and not so romantic.

Maybe a smaller museum or gallery? Gardner ceramic museum across the street from the ROM, or McMichael Gallery in Kleinburg?

Z.

 

[ellewoods]

I was totally imagining a cute little garden area....I didn''t think it was going to be inside at all!

I do like the books with flowers in them, but personally I think the environment is too uninspired....I can''t imagine how you''ll get here there without raising suspicions....I mean she might not automatically think you''re going to propose but she''s going to wonder why the heck you want to go look through file cabinets. I just would prefer something romantic and secluded and I don''t think thats it.

You''ll find something perfect I''m sure! How about a park area? Or somewhere with a view of the skyline of the city? Sorry I can''t be more help.

 

[jeffsentra]

LOL
Good comments... I totally agree... I was picturing a nice flowered area or something. I have looked into the two suggestions by zdrastvootya but they are both closed on friday. I have found an art centre at the University of Toronto and have spoken to the manager... I''m not sure if it is nice or not but i am going to head there today to find out.
I''ll let you know what I find...
thanks for the advice@
Jeff

 

[jeffsentra]

Alright, I think I may have found the place to do my proposal. I have to discuss it with the manager tomorrow but I spoke to her on the phone today and she seemed quite positive. It is a small art gallery at a university in toronto. It has one large room with a bunch of art pieces hung on the walls. Then it has a smaller room with display cases on the walls with various artifacts from the Christian era. Then there is a large room with a swiss structural design display. The first large room is the most nicest but it is very large so I’m not sure if that would be a good place to do it. I am thinking if I do it there I could have a piece of artwork that I have put up on the wall with a little description of it beside but instead of the traditional description I would put a little blurb about the two of us ending it with something like and now he would like to spend the rest of his life with her…. Then after she read it I would get down and propose.
What do you think?

 

[jeffsentra]

Does anyone know of any good quotes about love or something like that which I can write on the placard beside the painting?

 

[Evie75]

Hmmm here''s a few/

"My heart is and always will be,,,,,, yours" from sense and sensability

Aristotle
Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.

Roy Croft
I love you, not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you

G. Moore - Cute Love Quote
other men have seen angels, But I have seen thee, And thou art enough.


Kyle Schmidt - Cute Love Quote
I have said nothing because there is nothing I can say that would describe how I feel as perfectly as you deserve it.

Rabindranath Tagore - Cute Love Quote
I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times, in life after life, in age after age forever.

Anonymous
Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss, and ends with a teardrop.

my personal favorite
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Thou art to me a delicious torment.