Popping The Question With Style

There’s something terribly romantic and over the rainbow about proposing marriage on Valentine’s Day. It’s one of those delicious and foolhardy acts that feel so wonderful to do while being swept away with emotion for that girl you’re in love with. You damn the consequences, you make your move. And the move you make is all about style. Well, it should be anyway.

Used to be, dropping to one knee and popping the question was enchanting enough in and of itself, but somewhere along the way it became a romantic notion to play games with the move. Often it can be pulled off with plenty of class, though just as often it has been terribly trite, cliché. But as long as she answers in the affirmative, that’s all that matters.

Men have written their proposals in the heavens with skywriters, had it displayed on the jumbotron at sports games, staged elaborate scenarios with hired actors. Traveling to Ireland and working up the courage by kissing the stone at Blarney Castle is a classic. My maternal grandfather had the ring frozen into an ice cube and had it placed into my grandmother’s drink when he took her out to dinner at Sardi’s. (Clearly, it worked.)

I’d love to get a forum going on the subject. Maybe you’ve heard a good story worth passing on, or if you’re married and you made a stylish proposal, how did you do it? If you’re thinking about doing it, what options are you considering for freaking her out in the most romantic of ways?

BTW – my wife proposed to me, in S.F. on Halloween, right before a Cramps concert. How could I say no?