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For the mature folks - Engagments

post #1 of 16
11/15/10 at 6:53pm
Thread Starter 
How did you do it? Anybody do something simple? I'm probably going to be attempting to pull something off this week, and I'd be interested to hear stories about awesome engagements.
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post #2 of 16
11/15/10 at 7:59pm
congrats!

for me, we both agreed on a general timeline to get married, fall 2011. And we both knew exactly where (the big chapel at our alma mater), and a more desired date (the Saturday when students are away on fall break, so October 8). And so one night we were reading general chapel reservation info, important since it books up notoriously fast, years ahead before they switched to the online system, where we then learned "wedding reservations for 2011 will be taken on the first business day of the same month in 2010 beginning at 8 AM Eastern Standard Time. For example, if your wedding is planned for June 2011, reservations will be open June 1, 2010 at 8 AM EXT." It was September 30th, so a collective "awww shit!" rang from the both of us. We got up early, made sure the internet worked, used quick fingers to secure the desired time and date and then later on that night one of us asked "sooo - are we engaged?" "I think so". And then a week later I gave her the ring.


It's a fitting story for us, neither being bullshitters. Our friends just got married (on their first anniversary of meeting each other), and he wisked her away on a magical surprise trip to Ireland to pop the question because LOVE LOVE LOVE is so awesome. Yeah, we've heard enough.
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post #3 of 16
11/15/10 at 8:05pm
my most recent friend to get engaged gave the ring to his girlfriend (now fiancee) as she was waking up, so it was the first thing she saw. apparently she was having a lord of the rings dream, and so she freaked out at the sight of it and knocked it out of his hand. they spent the next fifteen minutes searching around the floor. i'm sure that whatever you do will make a good story, so long as she says yes.
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post #4 of 16
11/15/10 at 8:24pm
My wife and I used to play chess all the time. She always won. So I practiced and studied. One day, we went down to Battery Park (this was a few months before 9/11, so it wasn't yet a place of sadness for us.) We always made a bet which we would only tell the other about after the game. Since I nearly always lost, I nearly always had to pay.

This time, though, I won. The bet, I told her, was that she would have to marry me. I whipped out the ring I had made for her at one of the dealers on 47th and 5th. She agreed, of course.

Our doorman was the first person to find out. Sort of sweet in a New Yorkish sort of way.

BTW, a great way to get her ring size if you don't know it is to measure it with a length of string while she's sleeping. Mark it carefully and bring the string to the jeweler.
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post #5 of 16
11/15/10 at 8:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by gomestar View Post
congrats!

for me, we both agreed on a general timeline to get married, fall 2011. And we both knew exactly where (the big chapel at our alma mater), and a more desired date (the Saturday when students are away on fall break, so October 8). And so one night we were reading general chapel reservation info, important since it books up notoriously fast, years ahead before they switched to the online system, where we then learned "wedding reservations for 2011 will be taken on the first business day of the same month in 2010 beginning at 8 AM Eastern Standard Time. For example, if your wedding is planned for June 2011, reservations will be open June 1, 2010 at 8 AM EXT." It was September 30th, so a collective "awww shit!" rang from the both of us. We got up early, made sure the internet worked, used quick fingers to secure the desired time and date and then later on that night one of us asked "sooo - are we engaged?" "I think so". And then a week later I gave her the ring.


It's a fitting story for us, neither being bullshitters. Our friends just got married (on their first anniversary of meeting each other), and he wisked her away on a magical surprise trip to Ireland to pop the question because LOVE LOVE LOVE is so awesome. Yeah, we've heard enough.
This is pretty much what we did. It was a series of negotiations about something quite obvious, not a surprise. Yeah, not the most romantic...
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post #6 of 16
11/15/10 at 8:36pm
Screw romance. Romance helps a marriage, but practicality is what makes it last.
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post #7 of 16
11/15/10 at 8:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by iammatt View Post
This is pretty much what we did. It was a series of negotiations about something quite obvious, not a surprise. Yeah, not the most romantic...
When did you slip in the pre-nup?
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post #8 of 16
11/15/10 at 8:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spats View Post
When did you slip in the pre-nup?
Wasn't necessary. Good estate planning is more effective.
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post #9 of 16
11/15/10 at 8:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by iammatt View Post
Wasn't necessary. Good estate planning is more effective.

damn right.
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post #10 of 16
11/15/10 at 8:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by iammatt View Post
Wasn't necessary. Good estate planning is more effective.

Quote:
Originally Posted by gomestar View Post
damn right.

I guess I didn't spend enough (on attorneys: story of my life).
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post #11 of 16
11/15/10 at 9:04pm
Thread Starter 
See I was thinking of doing something very simple, practical, but I also know that despite my GF is very practical I'm sure there's some element of "oh I'm the princess" that should go into this. I mean, all things being equal, I think a cutsey engagement is better than a totally practical one, even if both people are very practical (as I think we both are).
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post #12 of 16
11/15/10 at 9:05pm
Thread Starter 
Also, like the turn this thread took. Leave it to SF [SPOILER][/SPOILER]
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post #13 of 16
11/15/10 at 9:41pm
I asked her in our favorite park while we were walking over a bridge. I then took her to a nice restaurant that we have been wanting to try and I had both of our parents waiting there for us. That was a huge surprise for her and she loved it. That probably wouldn't work for everyone, but both our families get along very well, and I thought it would be a great way to cap off our engagement.
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post #14 of 16
11/15/10 at 10:16pm
I took her ring shopping all over NYC and pulled a ring out of my pocket (that I had made two weeks earlier) at the end of the day.
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post #15 of 16
11/15/10 at 10:20pm
Thread Starter 
haha, bit risky, though right? What if she falls for a emerald cut you went with the princess? Being practical, I just asked her what she wanted, but implicitly said that I would make up for that lack of romance by being creative in asking her. Which is hard. I'm not creative.
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