When you propose to the man or woman of your dreams, you want it to be special, memorable and wonderful. You want it to be romantic and authentic. You want it to be exactly the way it should be.
But really, if you're being totally honest with yourself, what you want most of all is to be a hero.
You want the other person to see that you’ve gone out of your way to find the most perfect, unique and creative way to make their dreams come true. That it has taken months of military-grade planning. That every ounce of your being has gone into making them feel like they’re the centre of the entire universe.
No biggie, right?
So, as the jumping off point for an occasional series of articles that looks at some of the more expressive ways you can ask someone to marry you, here are some tips on coming up with a creatively unique proposal that might give you some inspiration.
- Plug into her obsessions
Does she have a once-in-a-lifetime location that she’s always wanted to go to? I had a client who proposed to his girlfriend some way out to sea while diving on an exotic holiday, proposing with the ring I’d made securely secreted into his shorts.
Maybe she has a hobby she’s crazy about that you can use to your advantage – proposing whilst caving in North Wales might not sound romantic or amazing, but if she thinks it would be then isn’t that the whole point?
Or maybe, you could learn a skill that would make her heart sing – like the client whose girlfriend always complained about him not being able to dance, right up until he went to lessons and danced like a boss at a party before sliding to her on his knees with the ring box in his hand.
- Involve other people
A conspiracy that works because others play a part always has a big impact – but it’s the kind of thing you only do when you know the answer you’re going to get. There’s probably little that could be more mortifying than being turned down in front of her parents, siblings, friends and extended family – but unless you’ve read the runes completely wrong, hopefully that isn’t going to happen.
Finding a suitable location and then ensuring everyone’s in the right place with a role to play can be the perfect way to pop the question – but do try to avoid being cheesy with it. Style, elegance and prosecco is the way to go.
- Hire a cinema
One of the most inventive proposals I came across was a guy who knew the moment he met his partner that she was the one. From the very first date, the wedding proposal was in his mind and so he spent 18 months filming parts of their life together – in the way people do every day with smartphones. There were days out, dinners, family celebrations, funny moments, happy moments, moments that defined their life together.
He paid to have it professionally edited into a 30-minute film and then hired a cinema to show it. His girlfriend’s friends, who were in on the plan, invited her and many others out to the movies – she thought she was going to see a private showing of a new romcom to celebrate her birthday – and the cinema played ball by putting the name of the romcom on the cinema screen that had been hired.
What she actually watched was the film her boyfriend had made over the previous 18 months – and at the end, he’d got someone to film him with the ring.
As he appeared on screen, he said her name – and from the cinema seat he’d been occupying behind her without her knowledge, he asked her to marry him.
It was a true red-carpet affair.
You don’t need to hire a cinema to make your proposal work – you just need to make it real and authentic and – most importantly of all – from the heart.
I’ll have more creative ideas on wedding proposals for you soon.
