Every Friday after Thanksgiving Sarah, her sister and their mother have a tradition of going shopping in Chicago. Sarah planned a long day of shopping followed by dinner and then a comedy show. Without Sarah knowing, I had one of her roommates sneak a letter into her bedroom for her to find when she got home from shopping that day. Sure enough, Sarah got home and went into her bedroom to get dressed for dinner when she found the letter sitting on her bed. Sarah opened the letter in which it told her that her plans for the rest of the evening had been changed and that her, her mother, and her sister (neither knew what was going on) needed to be dressed and ready to go by 6:00 p.m. because there would be a knock at her door.
At 6:00, there indeed was a knock at her door. Sarah answered the door and there was a chauffeur parked with a stretch limo outside of her apartment. The three ladies quickly jumped in the limo to find that each of them had a separate envelope waiting inside for them. Sarah's mother's letter informed her that she would be taking pictures for the evening with the digital camera that was by her side. Sarah's sister found out that she was going to be recording everything with the video camera that was inside. Sarah opened her card to find a "clue" as to where her first stop of the night would be.
Sarah soon figured out the clue and the limo was on its way to one of Sarah's favorite bars in the city where her three roommates were eagerly awaiting her arrival. As they got inside the limo, they handed Sarah her next "clue." The second clue brought Sarah to the nightclub that we met at where one of my best friends (who happened to be with me the night we met) was waiting for her.
He handed Sarah the next clue which brought her to Navy Pier where her father, brother, and future sister-in-law were waiting (they snuck into the city without the mother or the sister knowing about it). Sarah was getting extremely excited at this point because she's very close with her family.
Sarah's brother gave her the next "clue" which led everyone to one of my favorite piano bars in the city where my parents were waiting with the final "clue".
Finally the limo was off to Wrigley Field, where Sarah and I had our very first date. I was waiting there with my Cubs jersey on. As the limo pulled up, Sarah stood up through the moon roof and I proposed outside!
She said yes and the rest is history!
G. B., Joliet, Illinois
We had been going out for four months. It was my birthday and actually a warm day for December 22. He wanted to celebrate it in a big way but I just wanted him not to spend too much money. He drove us to Rizzo's, my favorite Italian restaurant—I've eaten at since I was a child. The parking lot was empty, which was strange, until we walked up to the door to see that it was closed.
I started screaming and cursing while I stamped my new heels and he just ushered me back into the car to stay warm. We talked for a while about where to go next. He kept suggesting expensive Italian restaurants like Olive Garden, Macaroni Grill, Fazolis, and that sort of thing. I kept saying, "No, it's too much money."
Finally, we agreed to pick up some burgers at White Castle and have a picnic in the park where I use to play as a kid (where, ironically, my dad proposed to my mom). We got the burgers and drove to the park only to have it start raining! We sighed, tacked the blankets on the windows of the van and settled down to eat.
While we were eating he began to talk about how nothing on this day has gone right and if he could ask me a question. I rolled my eyes at him and popped a burger in my mouth, thinking he's going to joke and ask me for a dollar.
That's when he pulled out a little white box, opened it and asked me if I would marry him. I start choking and swearing that he must be joking, right?
He opened the box and I saw the most gorgeous sapphire ring and continued to swear that he was joking. He sighed and started to put the ring away, saying that my answer must be a no.
I screamed that he's an idiot if he thought the answer was a no and launched myself into his lips while slipping on the ring. He started laughing even as I was still swearing and gazing at the ring and him in utter adoration.
That is how he proposed to me; in a round-about strange way over White Castle burgers. Even now, we celebrate that anniversary at White Castle, the smell brings back the memories every time. It's also a funny proposal story to all my family.
A. Y., St. Louis, Missouri
My boyfriend and I had fooled around it bit too much and we found ourselves expecting a baby. After some time he and I planned a trip to the doctor's office to see how far along I was. That same day we also made plans to have dinner with my parents so we could show them the ultrasounds that also were part of the doctor's visit.
Months before this, my now husband had talked to his mother, telling her I was the one he was going to marry. My mother-in-law took a former wedding band of hers to a jeweler friend of hers and had a heart shaped engagement ring made with diamonds.
Dinner time rolled around and my parents picked us up and took us to our favorite Italian restaurant in Williamsburg, Virginia. My fiancé asked me if he should get on one knee to ask me the all important question and I told him he didn't have to since the restaurant has a lot of tables and chairs and and it was a bit cramped.
He asked me and I said yes.
Then, after we ordered our food, I showed my parents the first ultrasounds of their granddaughter. My husband and I got married on July 13th of 2002, and our daughter was born on September 28th.
L. B., Williamsburg Virginia
On Christmas Day we went over to Johnny's parents house and, as soon as we got there, his uncle was driving away and called Johnny over to the car. He asked Johnny to be an usher at his wedding—his uncle had been dating the woman for only a few months and they were engaged on Christmas Eve.
As soon as I heard, I got really sad. I was totally jealous; I was holding back tears. Johnny and I had been together for two years, had been talking about getting engaged soon and they were engaged, NOT ME! I thought I was okay but every time people in Johnny's family kept asking me if I was okay, I would have to hold back the tears.
Finally, his sister asked me if I was all right and I lost it. I totally started crying. So I went outside so no one could see me and asked his sister to go get Johnny. I wanted to explain to him how I was feeling so that I could just move on. Basically, I was really jealous and had kept making these imaginary deadlines in my head about when it was going to happen; but they had all passed. In my mind, there was no way he was going to do it soon enough.
We talked (I cried) for awhile (about an hour) and then we finally went back into the house. I was feeling a lot better but was still pretty raw emotionally. I couldn't believe I had such a strong reaction but Johnny was great.
A couple hours later it was time for dinner. As they always do, Johnny's family gathered in the house to say grace before the meal. We all held hands and John's dad said the prayer. Before everyone could do the sign of the cross, Johnny asked if he could say something. I was a bit surprised but didn't think anything of it.
He started by firmly and harshly asking all of his family members to back off about pressuring him and me about when we were going to get engaged. I was shocked, my heart was totally pounding. He never gets like this and was doing it in front of about 30 people, including my parents. It was really uncomfortable and I started tearing up again because my emotions were still so raw and here he was exposing them to his whole family. He went on to say that we would get engaged on our own time and that no one was going to tell him when he was going to put THIS ring (the one he was now holding up for everyone to see) on my finger. Everyone in his family started screaming. I was shocked.
I was totally crying and he was suddenly down on one knee. The first thing I did was lean over and apologized for being such a jerk earlier in the day! He then asked if I would marry him, I said yes (of course) and then people kept shouting that they couldn't hear what I said. Everyone was crying and hugging and Johnny wa s still down on one knee asking me if I was ever going to put the ring on! Then he put it on my finger!
Absolutely, the best day of my life.
S. T., Studio City, California
