A chum recently asked me - well, he pondered in my presence, at any rate - how one goes about proposing to one's love. This is not, I should note, a situation of which I have vast experience. However, anybody who does have 'vast experience' has clearly been doing it wrong anyway, so there are at least some grounds for my proffering advice.
I think, so long as you're adequately terrified of rejection, you're mostly doing the right sort of thing. All that faffing about with rings and bended knees and perfect timing and so on - sure, it's nice and all, and it makes for good stories, but in the end it's all irrelevant. Abject terror is what counts: everything else blends into the periphery.
Give it a try. Let me know how it goes.
I’ll let my husband comment on his proposal to me (which was very well done, btw).
There are two particularly noteworthy proposals that I have heard about secondhand. The first involved a fortune cookie smuggled into a restaurant and presented at the appropriate moment. The second involved a roomful of helium baloons, each with a note attached to the string popping the question.
However, I would guess that most successful proposals are not a complete surprise to the individual being proposed to. And we are equally anxious, excited, etc….
I just asked her if she fancied going for a walk to get some HP Sauce then popped the question on the way back - worked for me ;-)
As for fear, her reaction, to run away down the road and not give me an answer for 3 days, wasn’t expected, but did add to the whole experience.