How did you react when you were proposed to?

[user8636283901]

Lighthearted and feel-good thread.

Just thinking back to my proposal; I kind of expected it but at the same time when DH got down on one knee I just held my face in my hands whilst standing there and burst in to tears for a good minute or so before saying yes. Which surprised me because I didn't think I'd be so overcome with emotion!

What was your reaction?

I remember being surprised that he was so nervous as we were blissfully happy. I said yes. It was a nice moment. Still married 15+ years.

I love these ☺️

We were out for dinner in our favourite restaurant, it was quite quiet thankfully and after dinner dh proposed, nothing dramatic and thankfully not on one knee or I would have been mortified. He just told me that he loved me, always would love me and would love to spend the rest of his life with me. I instantly said yes and started crying, the waiter came up 5mins later and asked if we had just got engaged!

we then went out to another bar, phoned my mum to tell her(she already knew as dh had spoken to her that day) and at midnight we went back to hers had a few drinks then went back to dh’s house.

Surprised, we had been together 3ish months

First time I’m ashamed to say I burst out laughing in a crowded restaurant- I just absolutely couldn’t believe that the person proposing was serious.

Second time I jumped up and down with excitement and happily said yes.

I sat down and thought I was going to be sick. This is because I hadn't had breakfast and we'd climbed a million steps up to Sacre Coeur. We quickly found lunch and I perked up a bit... Romantic location but I wasn't prepared!!!

Disbelief. Shortly after we met, he told me he didn’t want to get married. 6 months later, he was down on one knee.

Very happily married 36 years later.

First time we were in the car, he asked me to move in with him, I said 'or get married?' He said yes.

Second time I was pregnant and he said nothing against me but he'd rather we were married when the baby was born so that he would have legal parental responsibility. I said yes, and carried on taking the bins out.

Third time we were discussing his daughter's wedding and I said I wondered if he'd thought about us getting married, as part of me woukd like to. He said no.

I'm slightly more romantic than this sounds...

He asked me out to a meal and told me to be at his house for 7 because there was a taxi ordered.

When the taxi arrived, it was actually a limo, so then I started to suspect. We had a quick snog before we got in the taxi and I could feel a hard package in his inside breast pocket so that was another giveaway.

I was so flipping excited. After the starter and main course he whipped out the ring and proposed.

The best part of the evening was that the posh restaurant in Richmond that we went to was actually closed that night - someone took the booking by mistake. When the owner rang back trying to cancel it, my husband said he was planning to propose that night - so they opened the restaurant JUST FOR US! We were the only ones in the huge restaurant all evening.

That was something nice to remember.

Marriage lasted 17 years too, so not bad all considered.

Brilliant!

I'm really glad you held out for marriage instead of just living together. In hindsight, would you say you made the right decision?

@Poopeepoopee Just an aside...If a father is now named on the birth certificate, he has equal parental responsibility with the mother, regardless of not of whether they are married.
Think this was from 2002 (but don't quote me on this).
My now husband and I weren't married when we had our daughter in 2020 but I knew that I was secure in our relationship and would eventually marry so consented to him being added as father.
I wish more women knew this legal rule change as perhaps then they would err more on the side of caution with this if not married.

we had met 2 weeks previously.
we where parked in front lake at a park when he asked me - i was in my late 30’s and it was so unexpected and joyful.
we bought a ring the next day
it was a very very happy time.

I burst in to tears and said yes. Bit awkward seeing as how we were having sex at the time 🤭

37 years ago. I was 17. Married 3 years later. Still together.

First time: I said, "I thought we'd decided that already?" We were already living together, buying a house and had talked about the future on the assumption we would be getting married and having children. We did get married, but he died fifteen years later.

Second time: I felt very put on the spot (it wasn't precisely in public, but nearly so), we had not discussed it, there was a huge amount going on in my life at the time (imminently dying sibling among other things) and I really wanted to say, "can we just wait and talk about this properly?" but I knew he would take that as a personal rejection and would make life even more difficult at a time when I couldn't cope with any more stress. It would have been even harder to deal with the fallout if I had said no - it would almost certainly have meant the instant end of the relationship and I did not have the bandwidth to deal with that on top of everything else at the time. I had to calculate all this in about the two minutes I had between realising what he was planning to do and having to answer. So I said yes, while feeling very uneasy about it. We got some way towards planning a wedding, then called it off, and split up a year or so later - my decision, and very much for the best.

I really do not like the whole 'proposal' thing where a woman is expected to passively wait for a man to decide he wants to marry her and then be ecstatic about it. Marriage should be something you discuss together like adults.

I don’t actually remember. Dh had made me walk up a really big hill to a viewpoint. I was a few months out in recovery from a really serious bout of pneumonia that put me in hospital, so hills were not easy. A very pregnant woman actually overtook me running. 😂 So I may have been a bit delirious. I did know it was coming though so wasn’t totally a surprise.

Same here too. That was over 30 years ago.

I am genuinely amazed that in 2025 some women still expect to be proposed to, especially when many of them already have children with their partners.

I said yes.. followed by thank God you did it privately and not in the restaurant like you planned. He said how did you know?

Well 1, we have a joint bank account and I'd seen the transaction for jewelers. 2, he went off to speak to my dad 3 he booked our favorite restaurant from our 1st date.

He said he'd thought better of doing it at restaurant as he knows I hate a fuss. So he did at home.

We had already had the let's get married discussion and picked the ring together so I knew he was going to propose but not when. He got down on one knee holding the ring and asked me to marry me in a restaurant. I grinned at him and said yes. Then I looked round and nobody in the restaurant had noticed! I was expecting people to clap and cheer and the restaurant produce a bottle of champagne like they always seem to do on tv!

It was really lovely though and I feel like I got the best of both worlds as we talked about it together and I had a ring that I liked and fitted but I still got the romantic proposal.

first I asked him and he agreed. then 3 months later he got a ring. we'd just moved into our first flat together and I was busy putting up curtains when he got the ring out. so I said 'great but can I finish the curtains first'.

Ordered another pint in the Wetherspoons we were in and then suggested going to the Cash Converters next door to get a cheap ring (he proposed with a hula hoop). My engagement ring was £15 and doubled up as my wedding ring.

Very classy, I know.

We had already decided we were going to get married but he wanted to propose traditionally. I thought he was going to do it at a restaurant and I spent ages getting ready whilst he paced around the house. The minute I came out he got down on one knee. It was perfect and low key.

From an askers prospective. I’d planned to ask her a a concert of a singer we both love. Leaned in to pop the question and got

”Oh my god what have you been eating your breath stinks”

So I just didn’t ask!

Took me 18 months to come up with another plan. This time insured breath was on point and thankfully got a yes.

Saved the previous tale for my grooms speech. Was certainly worth the wait for the look on her face because she most definitely remembered. First dance was the our favourite track of singer from the concert.

Good memories ❤️

I said yes because I was so scared he would attack me if I said no

He then tried to force me into a last min town hall registry marriage. Two months later

When I said I wasn't ready he took a knife to me

Fun times

Oh and we never got married

Did get 550 for the ring thankfully

My then boyfriend was out shopping buying me a present, he phoned me and asked what I wanted. I said an engagement ring which he then chose and bought and well that was it.
That was 30 years ago.