Posted on: February 1, 2007
A Not-So-Modest Proposal
Getting down on one knee is an act of drama and courage with only one goal in mind - 'I do!' Here's how to make it happen, and make it memorable
By Matthew M. F. Miller
CTW Features
Whether it's the Eiffel Tower or Disney World, making your proposal special is all about knowing your partner's desires.
When Matthew Watkins planned to propose he wanted whatever he did to be well thought out and romantic. He set the scene in Disney World.
“I told her we were going on a cruise to watch the fireworks. I had secretly arranged for it to be just the two of us aboard a small speed boat,” says Watkins, a Bostonian, of his March 2006 engagement.
With the song “When You Wish Upon a Star” playing in the background, Watkins handed his love a glass slipper engraved with the words “To my Cinderella, will you marry me?”
The bar has been raised for proposals. And guys, if you think you can get away with a casual, “let’s make it legal,” think again.
Although you don’t have to compete with Watkins for originality or detail, your proposal sets the tone for your relationship, Craig Michaels says, who lives with his wife in the San Francisco Bay area.
“At the point of the proposal a woman has sized up her guy and has a certain set of expectations. You hope to exceed them,” Michaels says, author of “Thirty to Wife: The Tell-All Groom’s Guide to Weddings” (Marlowe & Company, 2006).
The key is to make your proposal personal and intimate both in the words and the setting, and most men assume that as a goal, according to Michaels.
“Men want their proposals to be memorable and creative. To many guys it’s the one place where they can feel totally in charge of a process that – according to every book, movie and TV show – is going to get out of hand after she says ‘I do.’ “ Michaels says.
Thanks to celebrity nuptials and reality wedding shows it’s easy to assume you have to produce an elaborate proposal. And sometimes it’s appropriate and appreciated.
Watkins cherishes the look on the face of his fiancée Diana when he proposed, and he knows they will have a wonderful story to tell their children eventually.
But that’s not for every woman. You have to tailor your proposal to your loved one.
“If you’ve missed that point, it doesn’t matter if you’re asking your girl to marry you in front of 50,000 at Wrigley Field (where the Chicago Cubs play baseball),” Michaels says.
