After a few weeks with Debra I knew she was "the one" and I wanted to make sure my proposal was memorable and unique. I decided to ask her 2 weeks before Halloween and decided that Halloween night would be a good opportunity to do something different. Debra was coming over to my house that night to help me give candy out to the kids in my neighborhood and she usually just walks in the door after knocking. Here's what she saw:
As she walked in, the house was dark with scary organ music playing. There was a pumpkin with "DEBRA" carved on it in front of her and a sign that said "Follow the kisses at your feet." There was a trail of kisses going down the hall. I was waiting in the backyard and I could hear her laugh and say "What are you up to?"
Around the corner was a pumpkin with "WILL" carved in it. The little boy that lives across the street is named Will so this confused her a bit and she still didn't see what was coming. She followed the kisses farther and then looked to the left into my sunken living room to see three more pumpkins with the words "MARRY", "ME" and "?" carved into them. It was at that moment that she started mumbling "Oh my God" over and over again while coming into the back yard. I was so nervous and shook up I couldn't even talk!
She said "Of course I'll marry you." I kissed and hugged her and then walked her over to another pumpkin that wasn't lit that had "YES!" carved in it. I handed her a lighter and let her light the pumpkin for an official answer. On a table on front of the final pumpkin was a candelabra and a black cauldron full of dry ice. It was fogging and bubbling like crazy. I reached into the cauldron and pulled out her ring box and opened it. Inside was a beautiful solitaire diamond in a white gold band. I got lucky in the fact that the ring fit perfectly!
Afterwards, we took the pumpkins out onto the front lawn for all of the neighbors trick-or-treating with their kids to see. We were definitely the hit of the neighborhood. Many neighbors came up and wished us well, congratulated us and clapped and cheered. It was a night I'll never forget and even though Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, it will forever be that more special in my heart.
C. B., Laguna Beach, California
I mowed in a yard the words, "WILL YOU MARRY ME?" and filled the 11'x9' letters in with white spray paint.
I took her in a small plane and we flew over the letters. After the initial shock was passed I reached behind her and pulled out a dozen roses.
She DID say "YES!"
P. W., Fort Wayne, Indiana
I knew I had a "surprise" coming, but was really clueless as to the magnitude of it.
Brandon and I went to see a movie and when we returned home, he left for about 20 minutes. When he came back I was sitting at my computer and he asked me to sit on the couch. I thought "why can't I sit where I am?" but I moved to the couch a few feet away.
He handed me a zebra striped box about 5" x 4". (I love zebras!) I opened it to find a beautiful Tiffany bracelet with a heart shaped charm dangling from the chain. I am legally blind and it was difficult for me to read the engraving. Brandon read it to me, "You are my heart's desire," a phrase he often told me. There was also an inscription on the other side of the heart that read "ADM" - my initials are "ADS" so when I read it I was somewhat perplexed.
When I looked up, Brandon had slid to one knee and said, "Instead of having them fix the inscription, why don't we just change your last name?" and out of his back pocket he pulled a smaller zebra striped box with a beautiful engagement ring. I immediately burst into tears and threw my arms around his neck and kissed him.
Poor guy - I never even answered him. He asked "Is this a yes?" All I could do was nod my head. I was speechless!
A. S., Corpus Christi, Texas
I tried surprising him by putting the ring box inside another small gift box and put it in a dirty cup and telling him he REALLY ought to go do the dishes... well, he moved the box aside and then tried to throw it away! He had no idea what was in there!!
After the dishes deal and him looking over it I knew I had to be obvious. LOL! So I went and bought a rose and put the ring inside the rose. Told him to close his eyes and gave it to him. Told him to smell it and open his eyes. Well I had tilted the rose when I had it behind my back and the damn ring had fallen out. So he was like, oh that's nice... a rose.
Then he realized he had noticed a clink when I dropped it, and looked down and I grabbed it and got so nervous I couldn't say anything!! He took it from me and smiled and said ooh that's pretty, a comfort fit band. Then I finally got myself together and asked him. He said yes and that he loved me. :) I think we're going to have the wedding next November, on our 7 years anniversary of our meeting each other!
E. Z., Wichita, Kansas
Picture this!
We go to Miami for a weekend getaway. While everyone's at work, Bobby & I sit down for breakfast at the Blue Door... in the lobby of the Delano Hotel... in the heart of SO-BE's art deco district... overlooking the pool I thought to myself "who's got it better than me"?
While my coworkers are running around back at the office in NYC, I'm chillin' with a glass of OJ at 11:00 am on a beautiful sunny Friday (TGIF would never be the same again)! The entire place is just beautiful. We get lucky! they let us check in early enough to ruffle the sheets and then go dive in the pool. I'm too engulfed with Ian Schraeger's designs to notice the shuffling that's going on around me. I do notice that he's been yapping with the waitress a little too long... (my honey, that is)...thinking to myself... hmm! it's taking too long to order a drink. But I'm too caught up in how much the Delano has done to make this place look so perfect at that moment. Little do I know that he's planning my proposal.
I'm floating around the pool on a float, my margarita getting to my head, studying a menu to see if I should have the Caesar w/chicken or something else. The entire time, he's pulling me around the pool, while I shade my eyes from the sun with the menu... still undecided what to eat. We talked about our feeling for each other, and how happy we were. Jokingly asking each other: "who's got it better than us"?
He kept asking me questions, about feelings and commitment, nothing we hadn't spoken of before. We always told each other how we felt about one another. Mushy stuff! You know!
Then he says "Let me help you get up".
Now let me set the scene for you:
The pool is rectangular with one end being very shallow... in that end, there was a silver wrought-iron table and two chairs placed inside the pool. As he's lifting me out of the water... he's telling me not to turn around. So, what do I do? I turn my head and see one of the Delano staff (poor girl walked into the pool with her sneakers on) handing me a huge bouquet of beautiful, long stem roses, and on the table is a silver champagne bucket (with bubbly, of course) and strawberries. As I turn around, Bobby was down on bended knee with ring in hand, proposing to me in the pool at the Delano Hotel, in South Beach Miami... I buckled at the knees...
I ask you! Who had it better than me that day? No one!
... and to think, everyone around the pool knew what was going on except me! As he asked me to marry him, the crowd wants to know what the answer is, and I screamed "I said YES". And to this story, I ask "who has it better than me?" No one!
C. Z., New York, New York
