Will You Park Next To Me Until The End Of Time?
I loved this -- an email from a reader, Beth Heinrich, about how her husband proposed. I find the parking lot proposal really romantic -- more so than the planned proposal on horseback:
I wanted to share my proposal experience. My now husband, had a romantic day planned. We were going horseback riding at a local stable that had access to sand dunes and the beach. He was going to propose on the ride.The day did not go as planned. His car broke down and he had to spend the day fixing it and the money that was going to be spent on the ride went to parts.
He is usually a pretty even tempered guy so I couldn't understand why he was so upset by the change in plans. We were both college students driving old cars so we often spent our weekends working on one car or another. I found out why later in the day as we drove to the store.
He got out of the car in the parking lot, got down on one knee and proposed. He explained about the original plan. It would have been very romantic. But I will never forget the one I got. The Love behind it was the important bit.
I always wonder about the big fancy proposals that make the news. If it fits in with the couple's life great, but to make it a big deal for the sake of a big deal raises a big red flag to me.
Our engagement matched our life. We got our ride later and had a wonderful time. Thirty years later we are still together. We have had our ups and downs and we have handled them the same way we did the day we got engaged. With humor and flexibility.
Don't Want To Disappoint needs to make sure that he and his lady have the love bit and the actual proposal is a piece of cake. If he wants to do something special think of something that reflects their relationship.
--Beth Heinrich
Thanks for reminding me
Love it. A similar thing happened with my husband's planned proposal: what was supposed to be a proposal during a moonlit walk on the beach on our vaction was torpedoed by intense food poisoning and turned into a proposal from the fetal position in our hotel room bed. He got the same results, and nine years later we have a good story. If someone can't say yes to marriage without the proposal meeting certain levels of extravagance, I'd say they aren't good candidates for marriage in the first place.
mse at April 20, 2013 7:04 AM
This is the same issue with the bridezilla movement.
If she (or he) can't be happy with a judge or pastor and maybe only the parents or a few close friends in attendance at the exchanging of the vows, what makes them think having 500 people will make it any better?
Jim P. at April 20, 2013 7:49 AM
I wanted to propose to Judy on my big, beautiful boat in the Pacific. Wouldn't that be romantic? The ocean? The fresh air? The sunshine? But the boat was in the shipyard, getting worked on, which is nature's way of transforming the equity in your home to someone else's income. Anyway, they told me it would be ready by Thanksgiving. Ditto re Christmas and New Year's. I couldn't take it any more, so she got a dining room proposal instead. Happily for me, she said "yes," and that same month we were married in Vegas.
Walter Moore at April 20, 2013 7:51 AM
P.S. The boat is long since gone, along with all the appreciation in value my home at the time had experienced. And by "appreciation," I mean money, not adoring glances.
Walter Moore at April 20, 2013 7:52 AM
If someone can't say yes to marriage without the proposal meeting certain levels of extravagance, I'd say they aren't good candidates for marriage in the first place.
Agree.
Unfortunately, there's now extravaganza-creep in prom invites.
Guys need to operate as if they're enough. Not doing that puts them at a disadvantage from the start.
Amy Alkon at April 20, 2013 8:28 AM
Oh, and as I just emailed Beth Heinrich (to tell her I'd posted this):
Amy Alkon at April 20, 2013 8:30 AM
I have never considered myself a girly girl - named Ronnie? forget it - but (shhh!) my guilty pleasure is reading the NYT Weddings stories. Thanks for the story, Beth! Twoo Wuv!
Ronnie at April 20, 2013 4:54 PM
My wife and I spent less than 1000 dollars on our wedding. We've been married 33 years. As we attended the "bridezilla" style weddings we often wondered:
Is there a relationship between cost of the wedding and the duration of the marriage?
We do believe based on our observations, it's an inverse relationship.
Mike43 at April 20, 2013 7:18 PM
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