Whether you’ve been dating for five years or five months, asking the love-of-your-life to marry you can be rather intimidating. Do you go all out, or keep it simple? Do you create an intimate atmosphere or invite everyone you know? These are loaded questions that people everywhere tend to think about before they pop the question.
With so much stress to make proposals a special event, here are some do’s and don’ts to follow, as told by recently engaged K-State students. These ideas are sure to help you be successful in creating a moment you and your soon-to-be-fiancé will never forget.
Don’ts of marriage proposals
1. Don’t advertise it to the world. If you want to invite family members and friends, give them enough notice to attend. However, you need to be cautious that you aren’t telling too many people.
“Don’t just go around saying, ‘Oh, by the way, I’m getting engaged,'” Joe Simon, senior in relational communication, said. “They could leak it on accident.”
2. Don’t casually ask. Retelling the story of your proposal is surely something you will have to do for many years to come. Create a memory that you are proud of and make sure that it is something you will both remember happening the same way.
3. Don’t just wing it. A marriage proposal is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Put in some effort to make it special.
“Make it good, make it something significant for the two of you,” Simon said.
4. Don’t be prideful, ask for help. Sometimes, in order to pull off an engagement that will wow your partner, you have to ask for help from their friends or relatives.
Do’s of marriage proposals
1. Listen to what they wants. Often people will tell you what they want without ever being asked.
“She’s gonna tell you what she wants and what she doesn’t want,” Chris Powell, senior in communications studies who recently proposed to his girlfriend, said. “I would have chosen to do something bigger with a lot of people around, because that’s my personality. But, I knew that she would hate that.”
2. Take time to be sentimental. Choosing to spend the rest of your life with someone is a big deal. Taking an extra moment to vocalize your desire to marry this person could mean the world to them.
“Don’t just try to make it quick, take time to think about how you feel and why you want to get married,” Lauren Stroud, Powell’s fiance and student at Manhattan Christian College, said.
3. Get video or photography of it. It doesn’t have to be professional, but this is one moment you will want to capture. If you are proposing in front of friends and family, delegate that job to them.
4.Get the ring sized before. This one can be kind of tricky, but it is definitely worth it. You will not regret getting the ring sized before you give it to your partner so they don’t have to part with it shortly after they get it.
“You don’t want her to have to send it away while everyone and their mom is asking to see her finger,” Simon said.
5. Celebrate. It’s great to have an intimate moment between the two of you, if that is what fits your relationship, but make sure to celebrate the occasion with family and friends afterwards.
“Do something afterward to make it last a little bit longer,” Jayme Miller, sophomore in pre-nursing, said. “We went out to ice cream with all of our family.”
While proposals can require a lot of planning and sneaky surprises, the most important thing is that she says “yes.” Don’t be afraid to be original, your proposal is just that, yours.
Sagan Scates is a junior in mass communications
