 | You may have heard today that Qin Kai, China’s Olympic Bronze Medalist in the 3m Synchronised Springboard, has put us all to shame by proposing in front of millions to his girlfriend, He Zi, who herself picked up an Olympic silver medal. It got me thinking that this is potentially one of the most daunting tasks for any potential groom to do, so I thought I would give you all the benefit of my experience. Well, I’ve only done it once, but once is certainly enough |
Speaking as a guy who had an inherent fear of commitment, the pressure of “popping the question” was a mountainous task. The better half had seen her fair share of chick flicks (a thing I desperately tried to avoid) and hopes were high from her to make this occasion monumental. Even sweets were doing a better job than me, when we touched down on our holidays (when I had planned to propose) she opened a packet of love hearts and the first two sweets out the packets were “Will You?” and “I Do”. Gutted.
I’ll conclude my story of my own personal struggle shortly but I thought it may be beneficial to put down a list of top ten ideas for any guy out there who was indeed in my situation and is thinking of popping the question but does not have a clue how to make it special. Hope this helps lads! |  |
1. The Great Outdoors
Marvellous place to do many things, especially pop the question! Choose your favourite picnic spot, the first place you went on your first date, your home town or hike up a mountain range (don’t forget the crampons)
2. Photobooks
If you’re not the outdoorsy type, you may want to make a photo book or album of your journey together. Fairly simple to do, in fact there are a lot of companies who will provide this service (for a fee of course). Very personal.
3.Get the family involved!
If you are close to your prospective in laws, you may want to get a party organised and get them involved in the engagement. You will, of course, need to be fairly certain she will say yes or this could be sort of awkward.
4. Flash mob
Flash mobs seem to be becoming popular for all sorts of event so why not a proposal? Check out videos of other people's proposals online -there are literally thousands of them.
5. Have it written!
Put the words “will you marry me?” on the beach outside your resort, on a mirror in the bathroom, in petals on the bed etc you get the idea. At least you won’t have to utter the words yourself which will save your nerves!
6. Treasure Hunt
This takes a lot of planning but if you’re up to the task it would definitely be a very memorable and exciting way to propose.
7. Food
A traditional proposal idea but no less romantic - especially if you’ve got the cook books out and attempted something yourself. Cook a big meal, lots of wine (to loosen you up) and go for it!
8 Christmas
A survey showed that 33% of brides and grooms to be think Christmas Eve is the ultimate time to pop the question, which takes over Valentine’s Day at 22%. Put something special in her stocking this Christmas ;)
9. Skywriting.
She wanted a big gesture right? Why not put it out there for all to see.
10. Build a Bear
If she’s into cuddly toys, a handy trick is to record yourself saying the four magic words and put it in a Build A Bear. Wish I’d have thought of this beforehand…
So there you go, there are literally thousands of ideas out there but it’s important not to over complicate things and remember why you are doing it.
Oh and if you stayed to the end of the blog to hear how I proposed, here it is. We climbed 1000 steps up a mountain to a temple in Yamadera, Japan. Each step represented a personal thought and you were meant to have a revelation at the top - me and the missus discussed our relationship and life so far together. The handy thing was that after 1000 steps I was already on my knees, I slipped out the self decorated pirate ship treasure chest which contained the ring (we had a pirate themed wedding) and she said yes whilst we overlooked the beautiful Japanese countryside. Fair to say, I think I nailed it :) |  |
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