Unique Proposal Stories

Getting married is a huge event and it all starts with the proposal. It doesn't take a Don Juan or an extravagant gesture to make a proposal romantic either. My favorite proposal stories are the ones where the event was made personal and intimate by expanding on some special inside joke or a sentimental location.

The Bridge to Andrew

When my friend Andrew finally made the decision to propose to his girlfriend, Julie, he knew without hesitation where he wanted them to be when he asked her. On their first date they had ended the evening by walking through this beautiful park that Julie loved. Near the edge of the park was an arched bridge that crossed a small creek. That bridge is where Andrew finally won the battle over his nervousness and kissed Julie for the first time. To Andrew that was where his life with Julie had really started and that's where he wanted them to be when made his commitment to her official.

On a night when he knew she was going to be home, he went to the park and set up candles spaced out along the path that led to the bridge where he had even more candles lining the railing. Then he called and told her that he'd had car trouble but he'd made it to the parking lot of their park. Without suspecting anything out of the ordinary, Julie drove out to pick him up only she found the car empty with a dozen roses and a candle sitting on the hood. Seeing the trail of candles she followed it to her expectant fiancé-to-be who was waiting down on one knee with the ring in hand.

Spelling It Out

Then there's Donna who met her future husband, Brent, at a Scrabble tournament. After facing off against each other they began talking and discovered they had more in common than just a passion for words. When their relationship got serious and Brent felt it was time to propose he decided he would do it during another of their mutually loved activities: hiking. Since hiking isn't the most romantic of hobbies, Brent got creative and made the event something to be remembered.

He found a short trail that ended near a relatively secluded camping spot. The evening before he and Donna were planning to go, Brent hiked to the camp ground alone and arranged his proposal. The next day when Donna walked out into the clearing she found it littered with Scrabble letters and in the center, surrounded by a perfectly arranged circle of letters, were the words "Marry Me".

The DaVinci Proposal

My favorite story of all comes from Jonathon and Jo. Jo has always been a bookworm. And even though she never really cared for movies based on books, when The DaVinci Code came out it was instantly a favorite.

On Christmas Day of that year, the last present that Jo opened was a cryptex with an envelope. (A cryptex is a type of puzzle box inspired by the movie. It is a cylinder that can only be opened by arranging the letters on it in the right combination.) The envelope contained a riddle explaining to Jo that she would have to go on a scavenger hunt in order to figure out the code. It ended by telling her she would find her first clue "soaking up the sun". She ran out to the deck and there was a note that said to "find the place where love is made" which lead her up to the bedroom.

There were a total of 10 notes that took her around their house and the last of them said she would find the solution to her puzzle at Westminster Abby. After a few moments of thought, she grabbed her paperback copy of The DaVinci Code and there in chapter where the main character opens the cryptex was the a slip of paper which said, "Will you _________?" Jo spun the letters on her cryptex to spell out the code "Marry Me" and inside the little puzzle box was her engagement ring.