During 2019 we collected a bunch of engagement stories, both from weddings we photographed and people we spoke with. Some made us laugh, some made us cry. And maybe a few of these stories will inspire your own proposal.
If you have or know of an engagement story that I can add, feel free to send it to me!
*(photos don’t necessarily match the couple shown).
I proposed to my husband just after midnight so it would be on our 2-year anniversary on the corner where we had our first kiss (in Dublin, Ireland). As an anniversary gift, he surprised me with flights to Paris (my favourite city) the next morning and proposed to me there. So we proposed to each other the same day in two different countries 😂
Bright and early Christmas morning, the first thing he says to me is Merry Christmas, we’re going for a walk so get dressed! – We get in the car, he gives me a beanie and tells me to put it over my face like a blindfold, I start feeling motion sick, he parks up and gets me out of the car, still making me wear the hat over my face – he guides me totally blind for TWENTY MINUTES and I’m clumsy when I can see. He tells me to take the hat off and we sit down – I realised we were sat on the bench he asked me to be his girlfriend on with an insane view as the sun came up. He proposed there, I knew it was happening but I still cried my eyes out – Weirdly a few years before we even met he found an old engagement ring under that same bench… Not the one he gave me though!
My wife and I are both pretty open books. Our engagement happened in two parts. One night, we went to her house after having dinner. I had been thinking that one day I wanted to marry her but would never have brought it up at that point. After a few drinks and a lot of hysterical laughter, she looks me in the eye and says “I want to marry you” and after a pause, she says “one day”. After months of talking about it I was hanging out with my sister and my dad and my sister spilled the beans that I was going to propose( to my dad.) I tried to laugh it off but later that night my (then girlfriend) and I went for a walk at midnight and had some deep conversation. Even though I had an elaborate proposal planned out, I decided to just ask her there. A winter night under the stars is romantic af right? She did agree to marry me. Which was pretty cool.
We met online playing World of Warcraft and became friends. We met in real life at our first Blizzcon and started long-distance dating. He moved to me a few months later. He proposed at our next Blizzcon and is the best friend and husband ever! Our in-game raid leader became a minister and drove out to marry us and our guild came and were all in the wedding. NERDS CAN SOCIALIZE! 🤣
While getting ready to celebrate our seven-year anniversary, my husband sent the dogs into the room each wearing hats with words that read out “will you marry us?” He followed behind with a hat with the question mark, and got down on one knee. After dinner, we returned home (much to my surprise) to our house decorated with pictures throughout our relationship, along with all of our closest friends to celebrate!
My fiancé and I love going to zoos together. It was our first date, and most of our big trips we’ve gone on included a zoo tour. Well, he arranged a private tour with a keeper for our anniversary, so we got to meet a Kookaburra, a Malayan Chevrotain, Bleeding Heart Pigeons, Terns, and finally two different species of penguins. As we were letting one of the penguins, the keeper told me to take a seat to see if she’d jump up by me. Once I sat I turned and there he was ❤️.
I made a scrapbook of all of our memories and special things for the 7 years we had been together; including the card, she wrote her number on when we met, our meeting story that had been featured in our local paper, tickets to things we had been to, vacation pics, etc. On the last page, I tied the ring and left blank pages behind it for future memories. I gave it to her on our anniversary and watched while she looked through it until she found the ring. 😁
My husband took our five-year-old daughter to pick out my engagement ring, thinking she could keep the secret lol. He had to work that night and the second he left she ran up to me saying, “Mummy mummy we got the ring you wanted! It was supposed to be a secret but I’m just SO EXCITED!” 😂
He still made me wait a month until Christmas morning to officially propose.
My fiance and I are both musicians and play in a cover band together. He proposed mid-song at a show we were playing at. It was wonderful and a total surprise, but I had a heck of a time trying to finish singing 4 Non Blondes after that. 😅😂
My fiancé and I have known forever that we were going to get married. Finally, last year, we decided to renew our passports for a destination wedding. After discussing, we decided to have a wedding home with family and friends. We started visiting venues and shopping around for vendors all without ACTUALLY being engaged. It took booking the photographer before he said, “Well, I guess we should get your ring before our engagement photos. Want to go shopping?” Four days later, he tossed the box to me while we were eating dinner in front of the TV. It’s not the most romantic story in the world, but it’s ours, and I love it.
My husband sent me on a scavenger hunt! He told all the people involved it was an early anniversary thing (but our real anniversary was still a couple of months away).
He started the morning with breakfast, a rose, and a red envelope and told me he would see me later that day and took off.
The first clue led me to my favorite coffee spot in town. He definitely knows me well enough not to ask much from me before coffee. There they handed me a second envelope and rose. That clue took me to where we first kissed. I found another envelope, rose and chocolates this time. This repeated until I had my hair styled, nails done and a picnic basket filled with wine and cheese (another favorite of mine).
The last clue took me to the top of a road I knew well with an incredible view of the Hunter Valley. There he was waiting, got down on one knee and told me he couldn’t imagine life without me. We’re incredibly lucky to have found each other.
My husband proposed while we were out walking our dog. Not suspecting anything out of the usual, I was a few strides ahead of him on the trail. He made a small sound, so I turned around to see him on one knee and exclaimed, “Oh no, did you fall?!” When he didn’t budge, in my mind I was thinking “he must really be hurt!” Then he started in with the speech and I clued into what was happening. Later on, he told me he had gotten down on one knee once already and I hadn’t noticed so he had to run to catch up and try again 😂
My husband proposed in front of all our friends for my 25th Birthday. First, we were playing cards against humanity and I pulled the card on my turn that said, “what is my current relationship status?” He then turned me around, had the ring on David Tennant’s Doctor’s sonic screwdriver from Doctor Who and asked me to be the companion to his doctor. But, the fun part, is I didn’t believe him. I kept asking if he was serious lol. Anyway, I said yes!
My fiancé knows that I don’t like a lot of attention and sweetly proposed in private on a beautiful hike next to a river. It was everything I ever dreamed of and we are so happy, BUT there’s a twist. My fiancé loves attention and begged me to let him propose again at a fancy restaurant so that people would clap for him and we could get a free dessert. So two days later (on our anniversary) we went to our favorite restaurant and he proposed again. It was my nightmare but I know it was his dream so I went along and he got his applause and I got my key lime pie 😂. When people ask how he proposed we always ask “which time?”
