30 Women Who Proposed To Their Boyfriends Describe How It All Went Down
Answers found on Ask Reddit
1. “He was pretty taken aback, and said it was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for him. Then I reminded him he hadn’t answered the question yet, and he said yes.”
2. “I dragged him through Vienna for a week as this was on our first vacation together. Finally, he gave up and said he couldn’t walk anymore. we sat down in the orangery of Schönbrunn Palace where I asked him. First thing he said was: Seriously? followed by: yes. followed by: you know, you have to carry me home now.”
3. “I had planned to propose to my live-in boyfriend of 2 years at a romantic dinner on our anniversary, but we had a spontaneous trip to LA pop up, we cancelled our dinner reso given we wanted to spend the money on our vacation instead. Ended up still going out that night with friends to one of our favorite arcade bars. I admit i’d had a little liquid courage when i looked up at him and knew it was the real deal so i just asked him. He said “yes” immediately.
Flash forward months later and I overheard him telling a friend that even if I hadn’t proposed, that we still would have gotten engaged within a few months.
At first I felt bad that maybe i had stolen his moment, but he was all for it and I’m glad it happened in a way that was perfect for the two of us. Not to mention that same arcade bar became our after-party venue for the wedding, which was awesome. We played pinball and skee ball in our wedding formal.”
4. “My wife doesn’t post here.
One day, she said, Hey, ya wanna get married?
I said… OK.
Happy together for 18 years and counting.”
5. “I proposed to my husband, but we both already knew we would be getting married.
I like to think it was pretty romantic – at sunset on a bridge in a little French village in Provence. I made him turn around for something and he immediately figured out what was happening, so tried (and failed) to stay calm and just looked like he was going to burst from excitement.
I got down on my knee, told him he was the best thing that happened to me, and he said yes, of course, and we kissed.
Then he said he wanted to give it a try so he got down on one knee and proposed to me too!
We’d already discussed how we wanted the proposal would go, and decided while either of us could pop it if we wanted to, I was generally better at planning things out and putting my foot down (I was also the one to ask him out when we first met).”
6. “He said he had to think about it. Mind you, we’d been living together for 2 years and I proposed to him in bed. About a week later, after i had pretty much convinced myself I’d need to find a new place to stay, he sang a song he wrote accepting the proposal. And we’ve been married 36 years.”
7. “We were lying in bed on a Monday morning, wrestling. I mostly jokingly said ‘Marry me already.’ He said, ‘Are you seriously asking me?’ I, thinking he was just calling my bluff, called his and said yes. Then he said yes and promptly called his mother, who was caught off guard about this news at 8:30 on a Monday.
Going on 4 years married this winter.”
8. “He kinda went ‘WTF?’ like I was crazy or something.
This is after 6 years of living together. Then I started snooping and found out about all the skanks he was screwing on our couch while I was at work.
I’m in a different country now.”
9. “My wife proposed to me. I thought it was awesome! I was planning to ask her on New Years Eve, and she beat me too it and asked me on Christmas Eve. Never felt emasculated and still think it was awesome.”
10. “I proposed. He mentioned something about marriage two years before I proposed but I wasn’t ready. I just showed up to his house a week or two before christmas with my family and we went ‘caroling’. I walked up to him and asked him. I didn’t have a ring because I didn’t know his size but I got one for him for christmas. He just stared at me and said ‘Are you serious?’ I said yes and pulled flowers from behind my back. Again, ‘Are you serious?’ I said yes. Finally his brother popped out from behind him and said ‘Dude, just hug her already!’ And he did. And the next day he asked if it was real.”
11. “I proposed ring and all, he said no then pulled out a ring and asked me instead.”
12. “We always joked back and forth with false proposals over dumb stuff, but one night, I was just like, “hey, let’s get married.” He laughed, but then paused, got the cutest look on his face, and goes, “Wait…really?”
He likes to tell people now that he only agreed because we were at the top of the stairs, and he was worried I’d push him down if he said no.”
13. “I’m a guy and my wife proposed to me.
I was totally caught off guard, not specifically because I was the one being proposed to, but because we had never discussed marriage at any point prior.
As far as my reaction? Well it went down like this:
I got home from work and she was waiting in my room for me sitting on my bed. She was like ‘Take of your jacket.’ I said ‘Okay’ and did so. Then immediately she said ‘Sit down.’ At this point I’m kind of concerned. Then she starts talking.
She said, ‘I really like you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.’ But I heard it as, ‘I really like you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you…’ and I was fully expecting her to say “but I can’t”. My heart dropped, I thought I was getting dumped.
Anyways, then she started babbling and not being able to collect her words and thoughts and I had no idea what was going on. Then she pulled out the box, with the ring. I said yes, and had to get my composure because of the emotional roller coaster I was on.
I hugged her, went upstairs, told my mom and cried (tears of joy). Then I went to the bar to tell all our friends. Now we’re married with a house and a dog.”
14. “I proposed to my now-husband. It wasn’t unexpected, and it was important to us that we both ask and he asked. We were out to dinner playing Scrabble. I’d picked out the tiles to spell MARRY ME from our second copy of the game and managed to sneak them onto my tile tray after playing a seven letter word. On my next turn, I played them and the first thing out of his mouth was “that’s two words.” I put the ring box on the table and then he got it. He said yes, about a month later, I said yes, and here we are almost eight years later with a kid, two cats, and we’re about to buy our first home.
He wears an engagement band and a wedding band. Our wedding bands are identical, and our engagement rings match each other; his is a black band with a silver stripe and small diamonds. Mine is a silver band with black diamonds.”
15. “‘Yes! Wait, no! Don’t be mad! I was planning to propose to you and you beat me to it!’ He’s lucky he’s so adorkable. 22 years and still going strong.”
16. “I wasn’t planning on proposing, but the question just popped out in the middle of a conversation He said yes, then had to go for a walk to call his best friend and freak out a little bit.
When he got back we decided we needed to do it right – there weren’t any rings at this stage, but we could at least do the whole down on one knee thing. We couldn’t decide who should actually do that though, so we both got down on one knee and proposed to each other at the same time. And we both said yes.”
17. “He actually almost cried. He is not one to show emotion much but he was super adorably overwhelmed and said yes.
He sorta asked me to marry him but then when he realized I was on board he quickly shushed me and said he would ask me properly later. The problem was he got inside his own head and couldn’t think of a proper way to do it. He really wanted to make it special and just overthought it.
So one morning I woke up early and made him breakfast, I spelled out ‘will you marry me’ on the biscuits with jam and asked him to come into the kitchen. I got down on knee, the whole nine yards. He said yes and we had a lovely breakfast together.”
18. “I proposed and he thought he was being punk’d but after the initial reaction and 3 years of engagement, we tied the knot almost 5 years ago and still going strong.”
19. “He said yes, and was very, very happy. He wasn’t a ring person, so I got us both custom sterling silver lego shaped necklaces that lock together to form a heart. It’s been seven years since we both started dating and we’re wonderful together.”
20. “My husband kept telling me how he was going to propose, and I told him to stop telling me and he got annoyed and told me to just propose to him then (out of frustration). So I planned a proposal for a couple months later. I had bought a band for him already, bought a light up LED ring box from amazon to make it super cheezy, and ended up proposing in bed because the weather was CRAP. I quoted a wedding speech scene from his favorite movie and asked him in the same way he asked me to be his girlfriend (which was in bed).
He was really excited. Got super cute. He was surprised because he didn’t think I’d actually propose and figured we’d just decide to be engaged at some point. Then we had crabgagement dinner with his mom and stepdad later on and he was super stoked about it.”
21. “He said yes and was overjoyed/teared up with emotion (not uncommon for my SO, he still gets teary eyed when talking about our relationship/how happy we make each other/etc). Pretty much how you’d expect anyone wanting to – and having discussed the possibility of – marrying their partner to react. I was just sneaky and beat him to the punch. Plus, he loves taking people off guard by telling them that I proposed.”
22. “I proposed to my boyfriend with a Kinder egg full of jelly rings… he laughed and whipped out an engagement ring he’d been planning to propose to me with… we’re getting married in July.”
23. “He said yes.
It was a very casual way of doing it. I didn’t make a big deal out of it. We brought rings together and we didn’t tell people about our engagement for a while afterwards. Just so we could enjoy being engaged ourselves first.
We don’t really tell people that I proposed as we are very private people about our love for each other. So it is kind of a secret that is just for us.”
24. “He said no. 10/10 won’t do that again.”
25. “I planned to propose one Christmas while we were opening presents at his mom’s house. When the time came, I completely chickened out doing it in front of his whole family. I’ve never really liked being the center of attention (except on stage in theater) so I waited until the next time he went to the kitchen to refresh his drink.
While we were in the kitchen, I was standing there, fiddling with the box and he looked at me and said, “I get the feeling there’s something you want to ask me.” When I admitted that I had a present for him, one I hadn’t given him in the living room, he held out his hands and kind of cocked an eyebrow. I handed him the box and he unwrapped it, revealing the inlaid band I’d picked from a local jeweler. When he saw the ring, he said, “I think you’re supposed to do this on one knee. I did when I asked you….” (Which is true, he had gotten on bended knee a few years before but I hadn’t taken it seriously because we had JUST started seeing each other.)
So I got on one knee and put the ring on his hand and he pulled me up and kissed me, at which point I was asking, “What’s the answer?” and he told me he thought it was rather obvious since he didn’t like jewelry but he was wearing the ring….
At which point, his stepsister came into the kitchen to refresh HER drink, saw us hugging, saw the ring on his hand, and let out the most piercing scream I think I’ve heard outside an amusement park – before running back into the living room to tell everyone. When we walked back in, I was red as a beet and we got glommed on for him to show off the ring, calls for more wine, where we FINALLY going to set a date, etc.
Sadly, he lost the ring about a month later at work, and we broke it off a few years after that.”
26. “I proposed to my BF of five years on our fifth anniversary this last October! Back nearer to the beginning of our relationship, he mentioned at one point that he thought it would be nice to be the one proposed to (we were never a casual couple, so this wasn’t unusual to talk about marriage pretty early on for us). I told him I’d be happy to do that, he was thrilled.
Cut to two years later and it’s coming up on time, so I planned very carefully how to surprise him. I picked my own ring, and he picked a watch for me to use since it’s the only “jewelry” he wears. We’re both gamers and love adventure and puzzles, so I contacted a local escape room and asked them if I could use one of the rooms to propose. I got our best friends (and now Maid of Honor and Best Man) in on it with me, and I very casually brought up maybe doing an escape room on our anniversary over the course of a few weeks. Oh but we can’t do it alone, let’s bring our friends! I was trying so hard to be cool and now let him know what was up. We did the escape room, and at the end, where the last clue was, was the watch box as well. I proposed, he was stunned and thrilled, and now we’re getting married in eighteen months!
Basically, it was awesome and empowering and so so so much fun to plan and execute, and it gave us an amazing story to tell people. 10/10 experience, would absolutely recommend.”
27. “He was relieved, as when I first told him I needed to ask him something he looked like he thought he was in trouble!”
28. “I’m a figure skater and I made this entire performance for him to Overjoyed by Stevie Wonder. When I got off the ice, I popped the question and he cried. And said yes!”
29. “We were out on a hike. Previously we had discussed getting married or just staying partnered, and hadn’t really made any big decisions. Anyway, we were stopped at some vista, and I looked out, I just said, without planning, ‘I think I want to get married.’ He said, ‘Let’s do it!’ And we both broke out in big smiles.”
30. “This was about four months into the relationship. We just spent a fun evening together, he was being so sweet and I didn’t wanna leave so it just kind of slipped out as, ‘Will you like… marry me someday or something?’ He was stunned, asked me if I was serious. I said I was cause I was stupid into him and wanted him in my life forever. And that this was probably an inelegant way of saying ‘be my future human, please.’ So yeah, we agreed that this relationship was for real, and we’d get married someday.
He liked my spontaneity, but I’d really love to ask him again in a few years when we’re ready and do it right this time.” 
