Post your unromantic engagement stories

[MaggieB]

I spent this weekend with my future in-laws and they related their very un-romantic proposal story, which went something like, "I''m thinking of joining the Peace Corp," "I would like to go with you," "We can''t live in sin," followed by future father-in-law essentially tossing a ring at future mother-in-law. Yet, they''ve been happily married for forty years. Go figure.

Then, while reading the SMTR forum today (Fay Cullen thread), I came across several other not-so-romantic, but funny!, proposals. I thought it would be fun to have a thread where we could all post the efforts of our hubbies or fiances, who meant well I''m sure, but just arent'' that smooth . . .

 

[vintagelover229]

Our "first" proposal kinda went like this: I want to get you something nice, but not an engagment ring yet. I say ok, so we go looking for a nice ring (this is Aug. 07). The first one I picked out he says "that''s not nice enough (it was 100.00) I want to get you something nicer. So we go w/the 2nd ring I picked (which I liked more) it was a 3 stone sapphire ring. I LOVE IT! But...we had to wait 2 months because it had to be made in my size (4). By the time we got it (end of Nov. 07) my then FF had been given news he was to be transfered to TX about 6 months sooner than planned. So, over the 2 months we were waiting on the ring...we talked about getting engaged and having a long engagment. So, my "nice ring" had turned into an "engagment ring".

Fast forward to picking up the "nice ring/e-ring". I wait in the car (thinking he''ll put it on me in the car...but nothing. Just hands me the box. So I shrug and put if on. Later that night I''m still thinking about it...and I give him back the ring. He looks at me funny (we''re watching football) and I said, well? He goes what? I said...WELL? He goes...kinda grumbly half heartly, hummmm will you marry me? I said not if you sound like that! He then says it a little nicer, and I figure that''s the best I''m gonna get, so I''m say yes. He puts the ring on me. End of the "nice ring" story.

Fast forward to after the move to TX and to Feb. of 08. Brad say''s I can get my diamond now and that I can pick it out. I find pricescope, GOG and jonathan. After many changes of my mind...I finally settle on a .85 cushette diamond and after much stress on the setting, ended up w/a jared simple WG one. (side note on the cushette diamond...in IA where we are from, Brad made me go look at golf clubs, but I in turn made him look at diamonds. This is before we are serious, etc. The diamond I fell in love with and looked at w/him was the cushette. I didn''t think I could get it anywhere but that store, but I was happy to find out otherwise!)

We went to pick up my ring late that night at Jareds and I asked him to go with me. We pick it up and I don''t put it on. I just give it to him and say, you can give it to me when your ready. Meaning, since I picked it out, you can plan a nice proposal.

Yea...ummm hmmm. We''re in the Sonic parking lot ordering dinner during that same car ride...and out comes the ring box from the glove box! I see it out of the corner of my eye and say "DONT YOU DARE PROPOSE TO ME IN THE SONIC PARKING LOT! PUT THAT AWAY!

"

So, back goes the little box. At home, still giving him crap about the parking lot deal (half joking, half horrified) he gets down on one knee in the kitchen and takes my hand and actually asks me.

I know its not paris or a park...but compared to the other ones (and the parking lot) I was happy with it. He sounded hearfelt and meant it.

That''s my story! I tell everyone he tried to do it in the parking lot

. BTW his excuse is he thought I didn''t want to wait for the ring because he knew it was driving me nuts not wearing it! He was right!

 

[westjenn]

That is a funny & sweet proposal story

 

[Linda W]

My DH and I have been married 28 and a half years, but together 30. We were eating dinner one evening and he said "you are going to marry me and that''s it" I started to laugh, as it through me completely off guard. I said "oh ok". Next day we went shopping for engagement rings.


Linda

 

[trillionaire]

Date: 8/11/2008 9:38:41 PM
Author: Linda W
My DH and I have been married 28 and a half years, but together 30. We were eating dinner one evening and he said 'you are going to marry me and that's it' I started to laugh, as it through me completely off guard. I said 'oh ok'. Next day we went shopping for engagement rings.



Linda

That's cute, Linda! My BF makes comments like this, and I just look down at my hand and my naked ring finger. I turn it over a few times for emphasis, sometimes squinting my eyes, then I shrug and say, "Yup, still single."

He gets the point.

The last time we were at a wedding, someone introduced me as his Fiancee. He promptly grabbed my hand and said and held it up for them to see, proclaiming, "Nope, no ring!" I guess I get the point too....

I've created a monster!

 

[Linda W]

Tee Hee, I thought it was too Trillionaire. I didn''t care that it wasn''t romantic, I was marrying my best friend and that is all that mattered to me. He still is my best friend too

Hopefully, you will get a beautiful engagement ring soon.

 

[LostSapphire]

Date: 8/11/2008 9:38:41 PM
Author: Linda W
My DH and I have been married 28 and a half years, but together 30. We were eating dinner one evening and he said ''you are going to marry me and that''s it'' I started to laugh, as it through me completely off guard. I said ''oh ok''. Next day we went shopping for engagement rings.


Linda

HA!

Mine''s like that too. We''ve been together 27, married 22.

I can''t remember the *pre-discussion* regarding an e-ring. I do recall saying I didn''t want a diamond....and we had kind of given up on looking for something I liked. One day we were in the mall (yeah, this was pre-PS...in fact, it was pre-internet!), and I saw a sapphire/diamond Diana ring in the window. I blurted out "that''s what I want" and he went in and bought it. We brought it home that night because it was already in my size...

Fast forward to that evening. He kind of hands me the box in the bag from the Jeweler and says "well, I guess you better wear it then". *so romantic*. I told him he had to actually ASK me. So he kind of mumbled it out, as in: "Well, I got the ring and am ready to get married. If you won''t I''ll go out and find someone who will".

But he''s a KEEPER!

LS

 

[Linda W]

Ha ha ha ha ha LS. Ah Yes, our un-romantic husbands. But...... we wouldn''t trade them for anything in the world. I know I wouldn''t trade mine.

 

[FoxyBride]

Here's my LONG, strange story:

We've been talking about getting married at least a year of our 1.5 year relationship so I knew it was coming one day... I just didn't know when.

So my fiancee had been having all these "meetings" with his mom. Or he'd say something to me like "My mom wants to see me, I don't know why." Then after one of these "meetings" he says "I got my necklace fixed." So of course, I'm thinking, "He's been to a jewelry store." We also have these big bus ads for this jewelry store here and he literally had me chasing down a bus one day so I could see a ring and tell him if I like it or not. Now I've told him a thousand times I'm not easy to surprise because I figure things out, not because I want to or because I'm super nosy, I'm just logical. So meetings w/ mom + jewelry store + bus ad = e-ring.

Anyhow, after a couple weeks of this I'm like "Well I guess he wasn't getting an e-ring because he hasn't asked me" so I forget about it. Then one day one of my sister calls me (that doesn't call me very often) and I tell him. Then he gets all antsy and asks what we talked about. It was just a bunch of chit chat so I tell him that and move to the next topic. Fast forward to later that evening, he had a bball game to play. I normally go, but I had a meeting that ran late so I missed it. I thought it started at 7:30 so I planned to cook a nice dinner since he's always starving after games I didn't want him to have to wait. Turns out though, his game didn't start until 8:30 so while I'm thinking I have this all timed right so he'll come in to a nice home cooked meal with martinis and candle lit, I end up STARVING waiting for him since he's late. He finally gets there and I'm like "Good let's eat" and he's like, no I want to take a shower.

So I'm like OK, but hurry up I'm starving. So he takes a quick shower but I notice it's take him forever to get ready. When he finally comes out he has on a blazer and a nice shirt, slacks, and dress shoes. So I'm like "Huh?" and he says "Oh I though we were going out." So I say, "Yea to see Hancock, but I can't go in this? (flip flops & tshirt)" So he says, oh yea, I just wanted to dress up.
Weird, but I let it go.

So he FINALLY sits down and he says "Say the blessing." Also weird, because he always says it, but I go ahead and do it and proceed to SHOVE food into my face because, as I said, I'm STARVING. Instead of eating though, he pics up the camera on the table and starts taking pictures of himself. More weirdness. Then looks at the photos and says "there's something in the background of this pic" so I start giving logical answers, like it's the smoke detector, or our duct work, and he's says "no there's something" so he proceeds to get out a chair and start looking up in our rafters. I am beyond confused at this point. So his sits down and I notice he is sweating like crazy so I suggest he takes off his blazer but he says no and instead says "see I told there was something in the background" and pulls out this gold box. He says "Is it for me?" and I'm like "I don't know" so he tells me to open it. I get the paper off and he snatches the box and gets on one knee and starts saying how much he loves me and how great we are together and then.... "Will you marry me?"

Now he tells me he had just gotten the ring that day and he had spoken to my dad that's why he was so concerned about the phone call with my sis because my dad is KNOWN to gossip. He had told my dad he was going to wait a few weeks to ask me though so that he wouldn't spill the beans, which he didn't. He said that he had planned to take me out for a fancy dinner and all that but once he saw the set-up I had for dinner he thought asking at the house would be more "us". I think the rest of his antics were spur of the moment... LOL.

 

[luckystar112]

It was 4:30 AM and we were about to leave our house to drive to the airport and hop on a plane to Virginia. I''m outside in our backyard trying to catch frogs, because I''m weird like that. DH motions for me to come inside.

DH: "Before we go, I need to give you something".
Sets ring on table.

Me: Looks at ring, looks at DH.

DH: Looks at me.

Me: Looks at ring, looks at DH.

DH: "Oh...(in a mocking, little kid tone) Will you marry me?" (I think he was just extremely unconfortable being romantic or something...that''s how it came off. But to be fair, he''s not an overly romantic guy. Lovey dovey, yes, but not "romantic".)

Me: "Yes!" Grabs the ring, put it on.

An hour later....

Me: "What was with that proposal?"

Dh: "I didn''t think I had to ask, I thought the ring box said it all."

Me:

I was a little disappointed in the proposal, I thought it would be more heartfelt--but in the end, who cares.

Plus I like poking fun at him because of it!

 

[doodle]

we''re sitting in Orleans Square in Savannah eating Subway. i had a chicken bacon ranch; he had a meatball sub. Finish eating, and FI takes trash to trash can, then returns and sits down next to me. Following conversation ensues:

FI: so what do you think about being engaged?

Me: I''m not, so how should I know?

FI: You want to be?

Me: Sure!

FI: K. pulls out ring and places it on my finger, then kisses me.

Me: Awwww! You taste like meatballs!

FI: (laughing) you are SUCH an idiot.

the funny thing--this was august 11th of last year.

 

[bettina]

I''d like to be the first to say that I didn''t get a formal proposal. We just started joking about it. But, before we picked the ring out together he went to tiffany and tried to get me an e-ring way out of his budget because he knew I wanted it, even though he was dead against tiffany''s. That''s all the "I love you" I needed.

 

[matildawong]

Such cute stories!

We talked of getting married and I discovered and studied Pricescope. As Christmas neared, we actually went and looked around. We joked of proposal ideas including my beloved cat (RIP). Christmas morning he jumped out of bed and told me to stay there. He returns, plops Mittens (cat) down on the bed with a GIANT red bow on her neck with a ring on the ribbon. I know we have no money so I know it''s a nice, faux ring. And I love it.
He brings a ring box in (I''m like, "My gawd did he get the real thing????") with a second nice, faux, Macy''s ring (like how I call it ''faux''?) and a little note saying "I can''t ask what needs to be asked until I have the real thing...so here''s a pre-engagement ring"..... something like that. He couldn''t choose between the two rings (one had a halo; he''d listened during my what-I-found-on-Pricescope seminars.)

Now our wedding is next month. We got a 1940s engagement ring from a pawnshop for me to wear and a nice band. He never really proposed so what he does is ask me in the middle of a really sweet moment - out of the blue. And he''s done it a few times and I love it!

 

[violet02]

Okay I probably should contribute to this thread... although I have to say upfront I thnk I'm the unromantic one and my FI would probably agree...

So there was no suprise really with the ring... We picked it out in LA and paid for it and then we had to wait for it to be made which was supposed to be just before xmas last year. My FI was trying to be really vague about whether he had the ring on him when we made our xmas trip back east (we live in CA) to see our families. I of course knew better!

So it was just a matter of when he was going to propose... So we're approaching xmas and I know he's going to propose at ANY time! I'm wondering... is it going to be on xmas day or what? I'm getting antsy... I'm just an antsy kinda person! For some reason my FI was carrying the ring on him everywhere he went to and not saying he had it on him. I guess he just felt better with it in his pocket.

Anyways it's a few days before xmas eve and we're in the car in front of my dad's house (he's dropping me off before he heads back to his parents house) and we're talking about the whole proposal thing and I say that I love him and he says he loves me too and I say well I don't need any special proposal you know I just want to marry you! So he's like well OKAY then and pulls the ring out and asks... right there in the car parked out in front of the house!

So yeah I said yes! And that's that. We go in tell my folks... pretty non-exciting. My poor dad had this whole vision of him getting down on one knee proposing to me at the botanical gardens or something super romantic (we were in Richmond, VA). My FI was claiming he had this whole thing planned out where he was going to propose to me on xmas eve but I was too impatient...

Of course fast forward to a couple of weeks ago.. I said, 'Hey honey, remember how you were going to propose to me on xmas eve but I "made" you do it sooner?' He's like, 'Yeah...' and I said 'What was your big plan anyways? Or were you just going to ask me when I was at your parents house that night...' He was like, 'Yeah that was the whole plan'... haha... maybe he's the unromantic one?

I liked the car proposal just fine.

 

[bee*]

My parent''s had been out shopping in Dublin and they walked past a jewellery shop and decided to have a peak in the window. My mother fell in love with a beautiful three stone ring but they decided to keep walking past. Later on in the day, my dad said to my mother why don''t we go back and buy that ring and my mam said to him ah no, sure it looks too much like and engagement ring to which my dad answered, what do you think I''m asking. Ah romantic

 

[vintagelover229]

LOL! I love this post! You guys make me feel better! My FH is "romantic" in different ways. Like investing for early retirement, saving money, AND here''s a real perk...HE''S LEARNING TO BUY FLOWERS!

He also made me a build a bear for V-day. He always gives me a kiss goodbye when he leaves for work (with me stilll half asleep) and this fuzzy thing kissed me...and I look up, and here is this CUTE PINK TEDDY BEAR! (You have to know me...but I''m in LOVE with build a bear. LOVE!)

I thought is was so cute! I thought after I "made" him make me the 1st one I got (the lady made him jump up and down and yell I LOVE MY GF!

) when he aleardy didn''t want to do it, I thought that was the end of that store for him. He said the lady was very nice and just stuffed it for him. No jumping or shouting needed.

Anyways, what made it even better (he kept this real quite and kept the bear in the car trunk...poor bear, lol)
I woke up an hr or so later, go into the kitchen and the light is on...and there are flowers on the table! There wasn''t a card but there was a note on that graph paper (yup, his romanticness only went so far

) that said he loved me so much and that he''s happy I moved with him when he knows how hard it was for me to leave family/friends.

I consider that my proposal, even though I didn''t get my ring until a week or so later

 

[Clio]

We were talking about getting married, and Steve said, "Okay, if we''re going to do it, we should pick a date." So we got out a calendar and picked a date! And so we were engaged.

Later that year, he did surprise me with a lovely diamond ring (although I told him he didn''t have to) for my birthday.

I love our engagement story, though. That kind of matter-of-fact ease is very much typical of our relationship.

 

[noelwr]

well, I didn''t get a proposal as I proposed to him.

it wasn''t very romantic. just him sitting on the couch and me kneeling down asking him with a watch. can''t even really remember what I said. and then I left him for a week (had to go on a business trip)! and I actually had just come home from a 2 week vacation with my mom (when I bought the watch). so I was home all of 7 hours and proposed to him and then left the poor guy alone at home again.

the more romantic part is that when we tell people we''re engaged he has a big grin on his face and says proudly "She asked ME!"

 

[sklingem]

Noelwr - at least he had a watch to count the minutes
until you were getting back ... LOL

 

[trillionaire]

Date: 8/12/2008 1:57:28 PM
Author: noelwr
well, I didn''t get a proposal as I proposed to him.


it wasn''t very romantic. just him sitting on the couch and me kneeling down asking him with a watch. can''t even really remember what I said. and then I left him for a week (had to go on a business trip)! and I actually had just come home from a 2 week vacation with my mom (when I bought the watch). so I was home all of 7 hours and proposed to him and then left the poor guy alone at home again.


the more romantic part is that when we tell people we''re engaged he has a big grin on his face and says proudly ''She asked ME!''

GOOD FOR YOU on proposing. I get all kinds of impatient and have a tendency to blurt things out. I asked BF out... twice. Asked him to kiss me, asked him why he hadn''t told me he loved me yet, etc.... So I told him emphatically that I would NOT be asking him to marry me. But just on principle. I would totally propose, and I am sure I would never hear the end of it, but I might actually like that. I''m a woman who knows that I want

 

[MustangGal]

I didn''t get much of a proposal either. We had gone ring shopping on our 3rd anniversary (I drug him around the mall and he claimed a headach and didn''t go in half the stores). I picked up a catalog from one, and he pointed at a ring on the back and said "I like that one".

3 days later he picks me up to go out, and was bugging me to open the glove box. I wasn''t cooperating ("why do we need a map, I KNOW where we''re going!") I finally opened the glove box and there was the exact ring he had pointed to in the catalog. I don''t think he even said anything...

He claims I pushed him into it. Oh well, it worked, and we''ve been married 7 years now!

 

[marchswallowbird]

We'd been backcountry skiing all day and I was exhausted. I lay almost catatonic in bed until finally rousing myself to have dinner. After that I perked up a bit and we were back in the hotel room, lying on the bed and talking about the day. Suddenly, he surprises me with "so where do you see this relationship going?" (we've been going out a year and have discussed the possibility of marriage. I had in fact been getting impatient, waiting for him to propose for a few months now). I blurt out "married forever. What about you?" He proceeds to ask if I am okay with marrying into his sort of dysfunctional family (his ex-wife, his two grown children and their families and all the weird dynamics involved). I said something like, "not until you actually ask me." And he says "do you think you would want to get married?" He never actually says "will you marry me," but whatever. I immediately say yes. He then says "well, I guess I need to get you a ring at some point." Then he talks about wanting to do pre-marital counseling because the breakup of his first marriage really hurt him and he didn't want to ever go through that again. We agree not to announce our engagement or get the ring until we do the pre-marital counseling. So I was secretly engaged for 2 and a half months before I could tell anyone, OR get the ring (we picked it out together). It was torture! I dd tell my best friend.

 

[Gwyn]

Date: 8/11/2008 9:48:14 PM
Author: trillionaire


That''s cute, Linda! My BF makes comments like this, and I just look down at my hand and my naked ring finger. I turn it over a few times for emphasis, sometimes squinting my eyes, then I shrug and say, ''Yup, still single.''

He gets the point.

The last time we were at a wedding, someone introduced me as his Fiancee. He promptly grabbed my hand and said and held it up for them to see, proclaiming, ''Nope, no ring!'' I guess I get the point too....

I''ve created a monster!

I love your story! so cute!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

So I was at the jewelry store when FI placed the deposit on the ring. I knew it was coming at some point, I just didn''t know where or when.

On the Friday of Labor Day weekend, we were walking into our house and I saw the ring box in his pocket. Before I could think before I spoke, I blurted out "What''s that?!?!?!" and grabbed his leg. It turns out that TJ was going to propose that afternoon before we left. Well that plan was botched! So he made me wait. We were in NY for the long weekend visting friends and family. We spent one of the days driving around, sight seeing and visiting special places from when TJ lived there. At each scenic overlook and/or romantic spot, I thought "okay this is it!" But alas, he made me wait. Finally, we ended up in Poolville, NY which is right outside of Hamilton. It''s a quaint little village with a bridge going over a brook. We drove over the bridge, and right in the middle of it he stopped the car, turned to me, and asked me to marry him. He didn''t even get out of the car. I, of course, said yes.

 

[buttercup80]

The fact that my proposal was unromantic was my own fault:

He took me to dinner at my FAVORITE, somewhat pricey, special occasion type restaurant. He was acting really weird and didn''t even open his menu - he grabbed my hands and started talking about how he''d loved me for a long time and. . .

I interrupted him to blurt out "If you are joking this isn''t funny. If you are f*cking with me, I''ll kill you."

THEN he started shaking and I said "Oh, it''s real then - sorry, go ahead."

Yeah, I''m so gracious and pleasant and ladylike.

 

[ChinaCat]

Great thread!!! These are cracking me up. Keep ''em coming!!!!!

I remember being a teen-ager and asking my parents how my dad proposed. I was so crushed when they kind of looked at each other and shrugged and said he didn''t. I didn''t believe them. I guess my mom said either we''re getting married or we are breaking up, so my dad said I guess we''re getting married then. And that was it. I still didn''t believe that he didn''t eventually propose, but he never did. Also, apparently my dad was a bit freaked out during the whole ceremony and opened his mouth to say "I do" and nothing came out. But they''ve been married for 39 years, so I guess he came around.

 

[cbs102]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHA.. are you from NJ by any chance... you sound just like me.. so eloquent!

 

[MonkeyPie]

LOL this thread is killing me. It''s so funny!

My husband and I had been dating 7 months when we decided to move in together. But he needed a car to get back and forth to work since his old Saab finally died. I told him I''d help him get the car if he bought me an engagement ring. He agreed, we went straight to the dealership, and then straight to Jared''s. When he gave it to me, I knew he had it, and we were laying in bed. He rolled over onto me and sat on my butt (I was laying facedown), put the box in front of my face and asked if I would marry him. And of course I said yes lol.

 

[marchswallowbird]

My friend also had an unromantic proposal. She was living with her BF and was sick as a dog one day. He sat on the side of her bed and promised her he''d always be there to take care of her, forever. He never actually proposed, but the ring showed up not long after. Sweet story, but she was sick as a dog, with hair plastered back with sweat, congested, naseous, etc.

My parents had an even more unromantic proposal. My dad was in the army, and he got re-assigned across the country. He went to see my mom and said, well, I guess we should get married. So they did. She never got an engagement ring. They spent their "honeymoon" driving cross country. Hmmmmm, wonder if that had anything to do with their divorce 17 years later.

 

[LaurenThePartier]

I''ve told this story many times on PS, but here goes again.

Backstory: DH''s company of 9 years is owned by a very Catholic family. They have lavish Christmas parties (think $700k wedding in a Four Seasons ballroom every year) as well as family days where they rent out entire water parks every summer. When the company makes their numbers, they take the whole company + spouses only (no live-in g/fs or b/fs) on an extremely lavish Incentive Trip.

DH and I had been together for his first incentive trip in 2002 - they went to the Four Seasons Hawaii on the Big Island. Number ONE spa in the world, but no big deal because we hadn''t been together too long at the time. Two years later, they make their numbers again, and it''s to the Palmilla One and Only in Cabo. Not a problem - he once again goes alone with his entire company, and I stay home and feel lonely while he has a fabulous trip to Mexico. He came back from the Palmilla (with the egg shaped bathtub and sleeping porch right on the ocean) and promised that I would not miss the next incentive trip.

Well, in 2005, along comes December 31st, and I had a pretty good idea the company had made their numbers, but he didn''t even mention it. We were down in Houston visiting his parents, and on the trip back up, I asked about it and he said "Yup, guess that means we need to get married by March."

And that was proposal #1.

Proposal #2 was a few weeks later after he had craftily had the ring custom made (this was only 3 weeks before the actually paid for wedding in Vegas). It was a Sunday morning, February 12th, at like 7:30 am. We were laying in bed and he said all of these sweet things, and officially proposed to me then.