What a quaint phrase.

A follow up to the other thread. After you'd met her/him which one of you proposed — assuming you did — and how?

Spouse #1: Her: "Well I'm knocked up. You s'pose we should get married?

Me: Ummm. Yeah, OK

Spouse #2: Her: Frantically "They'll never let me stay in this country!"

Me: "Don't be silly, I'll fucking marry you if need be!"

Very romantic in both cases as you can tell.

Excellent thread idea.

I was supposed to pick up the ring on a Friday and pop the question while we were by ourselves at the cottage on the weekend.

Ring wasn't ready.

Meanwhile, two of my workmates (out of a staff of maybe 18) got engaged that weekend, and Ms WOM-to-be was foul at me all day Monday, because she wanted to be engaged and was wondering what the hell I was waiting for. You know...lo these 16 long months.

So, Tuesday I pick up the ring and we have dinner with her folks. Nice warm, September night, I ask her to go for a walk so we can be alone and I can make my pitch. "No thanks. My back's sore. Let's just watch TV." Finally, around 10, I get her to agree to a walk. As we're approaching the house (porch-light...the whole bit) I'm getting really worked up, and suddenly she spins around and gives me a big hug. She can feel my heart pounding and says "Ohmighgod, are you okay? Are you having a heart attack?" So I'm like "No, no, I'm fine. Wait...[digs in pocket, drops to one knee]...will you marry me?"

She says "Ohmigod no." Shakes both hands wildly like she's got bugs on them. And then clarifies her position with "Yes, of course I will."

Excellent thread idea.

Thanks — but you and I appear to be the only ones to think so.

Ah! A charming story.

In fairness I should say I provided La Signora with a similar formal proposal after the previous one had err...slipped out. But she never tells anyone about that. Oh no. It's always the "I'll fucking marry you if you want" version.

I did the whole thing of formally asking her Dad for her hand in marriage before I went down on one knee. Of course, because her Dad then told her Mum, and her Mum had then told everyone in her entire family, workplace, left a note out for the milkman, taken out a full page ad in the Machester Evening News, etc, when I eventually asked Signora Rogin to marry me (a week later) she was annoyed that it had taken me that long, and was worried I'd "changed my mind" about something I thought she wasn't even expecting ...

You asked her Dad? Wow, I didn't think anyone did that anymore except in small Latin American villages.

My mate Liam asked his wife's dad and they live in a large Mexican village known as Mexico City. So it's not only the small ones.

Their second wedding (the church service, after the registry office do this year to make it legal for the British authorities) in Acapulco is the reason I'm off to Mexico in February, incidentally.

Um... I have nothing to add to this thread. All I do is ask girls for drinks, and if they say yes, nothing happens. But, you know, I'll enjoy reading everyone else's.

We'd been on hols in Oz and NZ and it turned out later loads of mates expected us to come back engaged. It was clearly on the cards, but I'd missed hundreds of beautiful spots at which to ask like a great dum dum.

It got to our last night, and we went to a pub in Kings Cross in Sydney. One drink led to another, and we got a cab to a place someone knew would still be open. We shared the cab with a FOAF who'd joined us on the night out. As the cab moved of, she said innocently about when was I was going to propose; my then just plain girlfriend shrugged and said 'I dunno'.

About 5 seconds later, I crawled into the floor space in the cab behind the passenger seat. The FOAF asked what I'd lost and got into the floor space behind the driver offering to help. My wife shouted 'ssh, I think he's proposing'. I was. I asked, she said yes, the FOAF started crying, more drinks were had and 7 months later we married.

I asked her father for permission too. And in front of a "witness" from her mother's side of the family.

We are very old school in some ways (though not in others, as the fact that we had been together for 11 years before those particular formalities would tend to indicate).

Approaching Christmas, the conversation went like this:

Me "What would you like me to get you this year?"

Her "Ooh, how about some jewellery - maybe an engagement ring?"

Me "Errr, ok - but why would we bother getting engaged after 6 years unless we were going to get married?"

Her "Good point - should we get married then?"

Me "Yeah, ok. Somewhere abroad though eh, so we don't have to invite the families - where d'you fancy?"

And if as that wasn't romantic enough, on the first day of our honeymoon, I took her to the stock car racing in Manchester, New Hampshire. Okie heaven. :)

there's a very funny bit in the Dara O'Briain stand up dvd where he is talking about people asking parents for permission to marry. I would heartily recommend that DVD to anyone.

I proposed to Mrs Max in the cellar of a bar in Prague. She got all teary. Later we got drinks bought for us in a bar that turned out to be a brothel downstairs....that's Prague for you :-)

I'd first met her backpacking in Melbourne at the start of 2006. It really was a lightning strike moment and she recently showed me her diary entry for a week later when I had to move on "The love of my life just left".

Two and a half years and one marriage later we're still puke inducingly happy.

It's funny - maybe because I've been feeling a bit under the weather again lately, or maybe just because I am a stroppy wanker - but this series of threads has made me feel a bit like I did at school when we had to write stuff about our pets.

I HAVEN'T GOT A PET. WHY WOULD I HAVE A PET? PETS ARE SHIT. HOW DARE YOU ASSUME I'VE GOT A PET.

Sorry, as you were. Some cool stories here, and in the other threads too.

I chose the ring in advance, then took H out for dinner (Fish by Borough Market), after dinner we walked over to just outside the Thameside pub, overlooking the river, right next to the Golden Hind.

I then gave H a card which told her how I felt, and how I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, I then pulled the ring out of my pocket and asked her to marry me. She said yes.

We then had a drink in the pub and decided it would be nice if I (belately) asked permission from her dad, so I phone him up. He said it was very old fasioned of me, but it was good for him, and good luck.

My proposal was stumbled out drunkenly in a phone box on the outskirts of Whitstable and was the culmination of a long, and raher lovely, weekend.

I also did the chat with the father-in-law-to-be, though it was more a case of notifying him after the fact. He was really cool about it actually.

Then it was off to his local club in Horsham to receive the (largely) good-natured piss-taking of a big group of his ex-forces mates.

TonTon wrote:

QUOTE:
It's funny - maybe because I've been feeling a bit under the weather again lately, or maybe just because I am a stroppy wanker - but this series of threads has made me feel a bit like I did at school when we had to write stuff about our pets.

I HAVEN'T GOT A PET. WHY WOULD I HAVE A PET? PETS ARE SHIT. HOW DARE YOU ASSUME I'VE GOT A PET.

Sorry, as you were. Some cool stories here, and in the other threads too.

I'm with you, 100%.

EDIT: Actually maybe 85%. PETS ARE THE ONLY THING THAT MAKE LIFE WORTH LIVING. YOU WILL ONLY EVER GET UNCONDITIONAL LOVE FROM A PET.