118,962. That’s the number of weddings that take place each year in Australia, according to McCrindle’s 2015 research.
When you’ve found someone you want to spend the rest of your life with, you want to make sure your special moments truly stand out and are uniquely suited to your relationship. How can you ensure your proposal story is more than just a statistic?
We’ve written before about some romantic getaways that could also make great proposal destinations. However, having a creative, meaningful idea in mind about how the whole event will transpire can help you choose the right location and develop a plan that will really take the cake. In 2013, Daily Mail reported that a survey showed 33 per cent of women were ‘secretly disappointed’ with their proposal stories, yearning for ‘fairy-tale scenarios’ and sentimental locations over the traditional down-on-one-knee routine.
How about some stories describing unique ways people have popped the question to inspire your own engagement surprise? Here are five real-life ideas to get your creative juices flowing:
1. Passport to wedded bliss
Peter and Rhea’s engagement celebrated their love of flying to exciting destinations.Celebrating the couple’s love for visiting the world’s attractions, this travel-themed marriage proposal was posted on howheasked.com.
After arranging random people to hand Rhea vintage maps folded into paper airplanes as they strolled around Cambridge, Peter escorted her back to their hotel. The room was transformed into a three-dimensional scrapbook with snippets of their travels together, and instead of a regular passport, Rhea found a pink document with the story of their relationship – and a beautiful engagement ring.
2. Back to the beginning
Another pair of world adventurers, an Irishman and American woman shared their sentimental proposal story on whowhatwear.com.
Meeting in Italy, they became close friends, and to signal his deeper feelings, he wrote a message to her on a bar napkin. The proposal came four years later, when they were at a bar in Berlin, reflecting on their history together.
“He pulls a napkin out of his pocket. She takes it, confused. ‘Years ago I told you I liked you just like this. Now I’m asking: Will you marry me?'”
3. Enchantment in Sydney
Taking Veronica to Sydney, Jeff arranged a magical setting to pop the question.Jeff had a number of surprises up his sleeves for Veronica, as Unforgettable Proposal described.
After arranging for her to be pampered in Melbourne, he handed her a ticket for a weekend getaway in Sydney. There, he treated her to a private sunset dinner on the incomparable Sydney harbour before escorting her to a magical ‘enchanted garden’ created in their hotel suite. Needless to say the hanging lanterns and ivy made the perfect backdrop for the big moment.
