It was fun to read your reactions to this tradition on our facebook wall last week and it prompted me to open it up.

Personally, I hope the tradition of asking for a daughter’s hand in marriage, never ever dies out! You can disagree with me if you want, but I believe it’s respectful, endearing and gentlemanly. I can only imagine how sweet it must be for a dad {or a mom} to hear those promises being made to love and cherish their daughter.

If you’re  the daughter … thoughts on this tradition? Sweet or  sexist?
If you’re the guy … did you ask permission? If yes, how do you recommend going about it? {If no, why not?}
If you’re the parent … How did it {would it} make you feel?

image courtesy: Luster Studios

On our way home from the holiday weekend yesterday, we stopped at our new favorite restaurant in small town Wisconsin. I recognized our waitress from the last time {great waitress. super adorable.} I also couldn’t help notice the extra bounce in her step … much less the twinkle in her eye. Being a pretty good observer of these kinds of things, I quickly glanced at her left hand and there it sat … a most shiny diamond ring! *undetectable nod and smile*

It wasn’t but a few moments later when a small group of locals came in and figured it out too!  Of course, we couldn’t help but overhear bits and pieces of her proposal story from Christmas Eve. “He was nervous.  Acting funny. She thought he wasn’t feeling well … he just didn’t want to admit it …  She said “whatever” He fumbled and paced some more. he did this. something else happened… and then … “Will you marry me?”  She said YES! He said “Don’t cry.” And of course, she cried.

So sweet!

Do you have a proposal story to tell?  Yours? Someone you know?

Tell it in the comments!

darling image via The Illustrated Bride

Love is in the air folks… and wedding bells will soon be ringing for two of the sweetest and talented people here at MagnetStreet.  Johnathon  {software developer} proposed to Lisa {Graphic Designer} last week.  So fun and so exciting~ Lisa shares their proposal story with us today…

Setting: Thursday, June 11, 2009 at MagnetStreet
Participants: Lisa + Johnathon

He woke up feeling ill, so while we normally work out on Tuesday and Thursday during lunch, he wasn’t feeling up to a run.  However, I still wanted to spend time with him, so I asked if we could go for a walk instead.  He still wasn’t sure about that, so I suggested we take a shorter walk on a nearby path, maybe grab lunch on the way?  He agreed, but said he had to run to the bank first.

Background: This path happens to be the path where we had our first date.  Neither of us had explored it before (and we both happen to love exploring), so when he invited me to walk it with him last October, I couldn’t say no. We walked and talked about our churches, then came to a fork in the path and took the one that went uphill, which happened to lead to a bench overlooking a valley of trees – a perfect sunset location.  It was here that we discussed more non-first-date topics like politics and the cause of the divorce rate among Christian marriages…and something about that talk made us think there could be something special about this connection.

Back to the story: He returns and we drive to the path, start walking and he says “we should probably go to that bench.”  It wasn’t far, so I agreed. We sat on the bench, reminiscing about our first date experience, looking at the scenery, I’m thinking “what a beautiful, sunny day…” when he says “I made something for you.” Now I’m starting to get suspicious. He pulls out a stack of photographs – it is a series of photos. He wrote a poem on pieces of paper, then took a photo of each piece. So I’m flipping through this poem-story about us being two halves, him searching for me, finally giving up and challenging God to find me, then God brings me to him, he sees how perfect we are for each other, and then the last page mentions asking my dad for his blessing, finding the perfect ring, asking a big question, and as I’m reading the last line – he gets down on his knees, pulls out a ring, and asks me to marry him!

I said maybe.

JUST KIDDING – I said “yes,” of course!

It was incredibly sweet, and the best part is that I’ve been expecting a proposal, but somehow still wanted it to be a surprise. He decided he wanted to propose on that bench, the ring came in that morning (that was his trip to the “bank”), and then I suggested we go to that very spot! So it was a complete surprise, and perfectly orchestrated.

awww… SWEET!  I love a great proposal~ don’t you?  Thanks Lisa and Johnathon for sharing it with us and CONGRATULATIONS!  Stay tuned for more from this  b2b…  Lisa will be back to share wedding planning for their October wedding. yay!

I did mention that Lisa is a talented graphic artist didn’t I?  Check out her Save the Date Designer’s Choice for June while the rest of Lisa’s designs can be found here.

have a great weekend!

Unique wedding proposals come in all shapes, sizes and software packages.  Here’s one for your spreadsheets.   In this  CNN story, a computer programmer reprograms his girlfriend’s favorite video game, Bejeweled.  It took him a month to figure it out, but when she reached a certain score on the game, he had it programmed to send her a marriage proposal.  Guess what?  It did.  She said yes!!  Congratulations Tammy and Bernie.

Is there a moral in the story (besides not hacking into games)?  Do what you love to do and the proposal will follow???