To be curious about how many times women have been proposed to or engaged?

[WiseGreyOtter]

I find it so interesting hearing about women’s past experiences, especially when it comes to proposals or engagements. Some people are only proposed to once, while others have different stories.

How many times has it happened for you and what’s the story behind it?

A guy I dated as a teenager had a mother who was very beautiful even as a 60 yr old (she has him very late)

She had a box of engagement rings - there were FIVE!!! different rings.

She was french but studied at Oxford

She told me she picked her husband because even though he wasn't the best looking or funniest she thought he was a hard worker and was kind so would be a good provider for her and her babies!!!

I miss her a lot she was a wonderful woman

The only people who have ever proposed to me have been strangers, mostly (but perhaps not always) in jest.

Once and have been married for 22 years.

I'm married (25 years this year) but didn't get a proposal. We'd talked about getting married and I had been very clear I was not going to buy a property or have children with someone I wasn't married to. He gave me a ring for Christmas and I put it on. We then told people we were engaged but he never actually asked me, because we had effectively already agreed it. I was a bit disappointed by that initially but now I don't give a toss. I know lots of people who got a grand proposal and they are now divorced or the husband's "traditional" approach turned out to be the polite face of chauvinism.

When I was 16 my then boyfriend suggested "we should get engaged for your (17th) birthday". I just looked back stunned and he didn't mention it again. By the time my 17th birthday came round I was dating someone different anyway. I don't know if that counts. It was the late 80s and "getting engaged" without any real intention or plan to marry was quite common. Maybe the 80s version of being exclusive? Ridiculous.

When travelling in America my friend and I stopped in Las Vegas for a night and bumped into a guy on the strip who'd just had a lucky win and he asked me if I wanted to go and get married. I laughed it off and he insisted he meant it so I politely said oh dear I'm already married (i wasn't). That was utterly bizarre. I don't think that really counts either.

So ... proposals 0, engagements 1, marriages 1.

Two proposals, two engagements and one marriage.

The first proposal/engagement was a long term partner who I did love very much, but once we got engaged, suddenly all of the little things that seemed insignificant when we were just going out started to bug me, and I kept thinking "do I want this forever"? I didn't, and so I broke off the engagement.

The second proposal/engagement was with my now DH who I've been married to for well over 20 years. This time it just seemed right and I didn't have any doubts.

Engaged twice, married once. I still have the first engagement ring nearly 50 years later! Have been married to DH for almost 40 years now and he didn’t give me an engagement ring (but has been a fabulous husband and father, so I’ll forgive him).

Proposed - 3 times - age 16, 18 and 41. Weirdly my first husband didn't propose, maybe that says why he's my ex! My now DH nailed it wonderfully.

Proposed to twice, engaged three times but never married

7 proposals and been married twice.

My second husband (stbexh) and I talked about marriage and, because we were both sensible adults, agreed we would so therefore we were engaged then married for 20 years.

The other times varied but, apart from the two I married and my first 'proper' boyfriend, I turned them down.

I'm like a shit Elizabeth Taylor

An elderly friend of mine was at Cambridge in the 50s. In her third year she lived with an old woman who had never married, but who had once turned down 5 proposals on the same day!

Twice, married one of them (happily).

1. obviously the eternal optimist! I keep saying third time‘s a charm.

Likewise! But married 33 years.

Twice. Declined the first guy. Married the second one

I must have been proposed to about 20 times over 40 years-by the same man. He knows I’ll say no-and we just carry on with our very happy lives together. He would be shaken to the core if one day I said yes!

I have had two men who both said " I was going to propose, I thought we would get married" when I broke up with them, which I genuinely think wasn't actually meant at all...

This made me smile. I eventually said yes, very ungraciously, about 21 years in, because it meant so much to him, and we found ourselves in a practical situation which would be made easier by being married. But a ten-minute ceremony with two witnesses didn’t change anything at all about our relationship. Still good.

Only one that I consider an actual proposal, from my now husband.

There was also a desperate proposal from my boyfriend when I was going off to uni and he didn't want me to leave because his previous girlfriend had gone to uni and left him behind. I didn't even respond, but I did end the relationship. Thus reinforcing his belief that girls who go to uni think they are better than boys who don't 😂 . I used to have a thing for brooding tortured musicians (aimless indie/emo boys), who I thought needed saving. I grew out of it thankfully!

3 engagements
2 marriages
2 divorces
Now very very happy with DP of 5 years (I think!). We don't live together as yet as both of us have teenagers who are our priority but once everyone is an adult we'll co-habit without any hint of marriage!

5 proposals
3 engagements
2 marriages
1 divorce

Very happily married with our 2 young children now.

Twice, if you count an attempt by a member of my community to. arrange a marriage between me and her similarly aged son when I was doing A-levels

One proposal, one engagement, one marriage

Four proposals. Two engagements. One I gave back the ring as realised 21 was too young and I didn't know him (thank god thank god... he went to jail 10 years later for fraud), second fella it felt right and we have been married 18 years so far.

I was pretty nice looking when I was 20 in fairness and also was quite a sweet, lighthearted lass then. The proposals wouldn't rain in if I went back on the meat market now LOL

Proposed to three times. Said no all three times.

We just talked to each other and decided to get married. So technically engaged for 18 months. I didn't want to be proposed to because for me it takes the agency away from the woman in heterosexual relationships. Yes she gets to say yes or no but he decides on the timing. Which means for many women the timing doesn't work for them- many post about it on mumsnet. I think the idea is a surprise is romantic and shows the ardency of his affection but I don't want to live my life in limbo waiting for a proposal that may never happen.