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[linnea]

My father proposed to my mother in a rainy carpark in Wales with a statement along the lines of "We should get married so I don't get deported."

My older brother proposed to his girlfriend in a pub to shame another one of their friends into proposing to his own girlfriend.

My family, last of the die-hard romantics.

Heh! Tiny can for you, good sir. That's awesome.

[theinevitable]

I feel like the reason our grandparents all met in better ways is that... back then chicks and cats were not friends. So, you know, you had to meet in a way which indicated "we are going to date."

I have no idea how either pair of grandparents met. My grandfather on my mom's side was 20-something when they met, and she was 16. So.

My dad pulled my mom's name out of a hat. He was in charge of room assignments for his dorm at UMass, and pulled out her name. He called it out, and she came up. He apparently thought something like "YOWZA!" When the guy across the hall from him dropped out, my mom conveniently ended up in that room.
They both dated jerks/bimbos for a year or so, and then got into a deep conversation about how they wanted a real relationship, with someone they respected... someone smart and interesting who was going places.
Then, they somehow started dating.

My dad proposed by...
He had gotten her a camera for her birthday, and joked that from then on he would just get her camera paraphenalia for holidays. She said "you'd better not"...

basically he put the ring-box in a box for a camera lens. She didn't open it, and just started being mad at him. Then he said "...open it. look inside."
So. then she said yes, and they went downstairs to tell their parents (who were meeting for the first time), and the story I told before happened. RE: "honey, bobby is just kidding"

Also: I just realized that the story of how I met the girl towards whom I currently have amorous feelings (although there is no progress in that direction yet, and she is quite far from here right now) is a horrible story. Because, as far as I remember, the story is that I walked up and said hello at a meeting, and she knew who I was. And was put off that I didn't remember her. I am not sure how I could have forgotten possibly the cutest and nicest girl I have ever met, but, so it goes.
The stories for my last 2 ladies have been similar. "I don't remember." So sad.

[V-Adore]

My dad proposed by...
He had gotten her a camera for her birthday, and joked that from then on he would just get her camera paraphenalia for holidays. She said "you'd better not"...

basically he put the ring-box in a box for a camera lens. She didn't open it, and just started being mad at him. Then he said "...open it. look inside."

This reminds me of one of my favorite stories about my grandparents, although they had been married for some time when this happened:
One of my grandfather's great crusades was that my grandmother needed to have better shoes, because she was on her feet so much of the time. His preferred brand was something called "Glovettes," which were apparently semi-orthopedic and seriously ugly. Grandma, of course, was having none of that.

One year, a few weeks before Christmas, a Glovettes box materialized under the family's Christmas tree. Grandma proceeds to start glaring holes through Grandpa, and every time it's brought up, he just shrugs and does this nervous "I thought she'd like them!" smile endemic to husbands who realize they have bought a Bad Gift. This goes on for weeks; at one point, he even has a conversation with my mother about it. "I guess I shouldn't have bought her those Glovettes, huh, Sandy?"

Christmas morning comes at last, and my grandmother opens the dreaded Glovettes box... inside: two small firewood logs, for weight, and a jewelry box containing a diamond solitaire.

Grandpa laughed for days.

[jaydub]

I proposed on a lunch cruise we took on San Francisco Bay, near Angel Island.  I had pocketed her grandmother's engagement ring (since its basically a prop I saw no need to do all the nightmarish ring shopping beforehand).  I did the whole down on one knee thing, she sniffled and accepted.  A chorus of "aww's" and applause surrounded us from the other patrons.  It was a moment.

[ImpyChick]

These are AWESOME stories!!!  It got me thinking, though...I don't know my parents' proposal story!!!  The story that always gets talked about in my family is of the "Great Ellsworth Chase."  My mom was trying to find a friends' house in an area of town that was unfamiliar to her.  My dad was the associate pastor at the church my mom went to, and he was also out on the road & saw my mom.  He flagged her down (at first she was apprehensive until she recognized him from church) & asked what she was trying to find.  Turned out he didn't know, either.  So the two of them went off together & spent the afternoon talking.  My mom asked Dad what his next sermon was on, & he responded that it was about Peter.  Without thinking, Mom said...

"Oh!  I'm a big Peter fan, myself!"

[linnea]

Christmas morning comes at last, and my grandmother opens the dreaded Glovettes box... inside: two small firewood logs, for weight, and a jewelry box containing a diamond solitaire.
Grandpa laughed for days.

Heh!! That is too funny.

Ann...of course your mum's a Peter fan, aren't most heterosexual women?? LOL!!!

The best part about that is she was referring to one of the sacred apostles. Heh!

[CortJstr]

Heh!! That is too funny.

Ann...of course your mum's a Peter fan, aren't most heterosexual women?? LOL!!!

The best part about that is she was referring to one of the sacred apostles. Heh!

Well Peter was also a rock. And rocks tend to be hard. It's a natural progression.

[side_show]

Proposal stories:

My bestfriends husband's best friend ran a local chicken place.  He gave the ring to his buddy, and when they called to place and order for pickup the ring was hidden under the biscuits.  She was so excited that the meal (which was not supposed to come with biscuits) had biscuits in it that she got very confused by the fancy ring box under the biscuits.  My line to the SO is that if he is going to propose to me, he shouldn't do it with fried chicken...

I have been proposed to twice and proposed to someone once:

The first proposal came when I was working for the casting of a reality show.  The show was for couples, who would then spend a year as if they were new settlers to the country.  The only rule was that you had to be a couple.  One guy was a single woodsman-type, and he wanted to be on the show so bad he proposed to me about four times.  I said no.

The second proposal came when I was working on the same project.  One of the producer guys decided that if he could find a lady who would be able to live like an early settler without complaint that he would marry her (he didn't want to be on the show, just wanted a down to earth lady).  One of my coworkers pointed out how I had said I'd like to do the show due to my proficiency at many of the necessary skills and that I had turned down a proposal to marry one of the auditions.  The producer guy asked me to marry him.  He was clearly serious.  I was sort of willing to go along with it as he was cute and funny, but then he found out I wasn't Jewish and that put an end to that.

The third proposal was my Christmas miracle.  I was very tight on money, and I had all my Christmas gift-buying money plus two gift certificates and a set of hockey tickets I'd picked up as gifts in my wallet when I stopped at a food court for lunch.  After lunch I spent several hours looking at every store in the mall figuring out what I was going to get for everyone.  Finally, nearly three hours after I'd eaten, I reached into my coat pocket to pay for a gift, and realized my wallet was gone.  I worked my way backward to every store, but no one had my wallet, went to where I was sitting in the food court - nothing.  Went to lost and found - nothing.  Went back to the food court and asked at the food stall I'd bought my lunch at if anyone had turned a wallet in, and viola - there was my wallet with everything in it.  Someone had found it in the isle and turn it in right to the kiosk I'd eaten at.  And neither the person who found it or the guy at the kiosk had taken any of the money or gift cards!  I was so happy I asked the guy who gave it to me if he needed a wife.  He said no.  I said "Are you sure, I'm a really good cook and I'm really nice?"  He declined, and I agreed that my boyfriend probably wouldn't like that.

In some ways I think any of these three would have actually been sort of romantic if they'd actually come to fruition, but even to this day, I'm not sure if I'm the marrying kind.  Also, the SO knows that if he wants to marry me, it has to be a Canadian diamond.

[Alternate]

Okay, this is a proposal story from one of my teachers in high school.  He might have been bullshitting us, and I might have gotten elements of the movie "Titanic" mixed up with my memory of the story, but here goes: 

He was on some kind of Atlantic cruise with his buddy.  They were in third class, or coach, or whatever, and decided to sneak into a higher class bar.  Upon entering said bar, they saw two ladies, and my teacher said to his wingman, "I call the short one." 

He and the short one hit it off.  At the end of the cruise, she gave him her number and they parted ways, him going back to the states, and her going back to russia. 

Around a year later he decided to clean out his wallet.  It was full of random pieces of paper with random phone numbers of random people he'd met since the last time he cleaned out his wallet, and he threw them all away.  Except The Short One's phone number.  "Ah, it's that chick from the boat," he thought.  "No reason to keep this, I don't think I'll be seeing her again.  Maybe I'll give her a call, anyway.  Just for the hell of it."  She answered, and said, "Oh, it's lucky that you called.  I'm actually visiting your area next week." 

When she arrived he picked her up at the airport, and drove the two of them to a bar.  He talked nervously throughout the drive, not letting her get a word in.  They arrived at the bar, sat down, ordered drinks, and then he said to her: 

"So.  You know we're getting married, right?" 

And she said: 

"Yes.  But it has to be a traditional russian wedding, and it has to be at my grandparents' home in canada." 

They agreed that they would get married in canada in six months.  They set the date, and she said she would make all the arrangements.  All he had to do was show up.  And so she went to stay with her grandparents, and she and my teacher had little contact over the next six months.  She and her family spent that time arranging an elaborate ceremony, and during the planning they would occasionally ask her, "So, you are sure this guy is actually coming, right?"  And she would shrug.  Back in the states, my teacher told his family he was driving to canada to get married, soon.  And they would occasionally say, "So, you are sure that she's actually going to be waiting for you with a wedding all ready to go, right?  I mean, this isn't the kind of thing where you drive up to canada in a rented tux only to find that the address she gave you is actually a corn field, is it?"  And he would shrug. 

But he did drive to canada, and she was waiting for him, and they did get married, and were still married perhaps fifteen years later when I knew him.

[theinevitable]

Back when my dad was at UCLA, people would occasionally attend Big Fancy Hollywood Parties. I am not sure how they would get invited to these parties.
At one of them, his friend met this woman. He had always dreamed of meeting her-- he was absolutely smitten. He walked up to her, introduced himself, and asked her to marry him.
She said that she had always dreamed of this happening-- and said Yes. They got married. They ended up getting divorced 5 or 10 years later, though.

I am starting to think she is not the right person. The only thing I remember is that my dad said it was the girl who played "that bald chick" in the first Star Trek film. I definitely do not remember her having such a striking name, though... it was something much more generic.

[jaydub]

Was your Dad's friend Cliff Taylor or Sean Kassidy?  Those are her spouses of record according to IMDB (although they seem sketchy on details there).

Also, she's dead now (!) Of a heart attack at age 47.  She apparently had a bypass operation in her early 30's.  That's a bad ticker, man.

[theinevitable]

I am not sure. I will find a subtle way to ask.

[CortJstr]

Also, the SO knows that if he wants to marry me, it has to be a Canadian diamond.

I've decided that "Canadian diamond" is a crazy euphemism like "rocky mountain oyster"

[Alternate]

I've decided that "Canadian diamond" is a crazy euphemism like "rocky mountain oyster"

I used to think that "Roman candle" was a crazy euphemism for "early Christian." 

This is relevant because my sentence has several words in common with your sentence. 

Also: Back in the day, when I was a crazy little person, I got in a few serious relationships with people I barely knew.  Because, isn't it romantic to meet someone for the first time and immediately know you're destined to be with them?  Actually, it turns out it's only romantic if you're right.

[theinevitable]

Answer: he doesn't remember the guy's name. It was actually just a vague acquaintance. But yes, it was that chick.

Also:
my paternal grandparents first started dating because there was no one else home. He came over looking for her older sister, who was out. When leaving, he said "hell, you may as well come" to my future grandmother.

my maternal grandmother was apparently quite attractive in her day. She used to sunbathe on the roof of her house, and my grandfather's apartment was nearby-- he and his friends used to watch her from the window of his apartment. Finally one day his friends approached her; she politely asked where "the one who wears the white coat" was. My grandfather apparently often wore his lab coat around town, being the Hot Young Bachelor Scientist that he was.