Engagements

[KillerGremlin]

So, I figured I would open up a discussion about a fun hypothetical (or not so hypothetical for some users) question regarding engagements. In America it has become tradition when popping the question to do it in a unique and clever way, so:

1. how would you propose

Also, if people are willing to share, how much would you spend. Expendetures include cost of ring as well as proposal plans.

This is totally hypothetical and no I'm not looking for ideas for myself it's just fun[ny] to discuss.

[Dylflon]

I'd do it by posting ironically in a thread.

Will you marry me, KillerGremlin?

[KillerGremlin]

I'd do it by posting ironically in a thread.

Will you marry me, KillerGremlin?

Yes, but only on GT. And technically we need a Internet certified priest which shouldn't be that hard to find.


Anyway, I think the proposals at like game stadiums are the worst. Here are some funny clips:

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i dunno how "scripted" these are...but man. this is why you should talk about it first...or not. hence why i started this thread! jeez

[Angrist]

I took her to our first-date restaurant to 'celebrate I got a job'. After that we went for a stroll through the city. In a quiet and dark alley I went on one knee and asked her to marry me. She pulled me up, kissed me and said 'take that as a yes!'. We went for a drink after that. Oh and in the meanwhile the pope apparently died.

[Professor S]

I proposed to my wife on Halloween, one of her favorite holidays. We have a ceramic candy bowl with a hand reaching out of it, and I put the ring on the hand and asked her if she wanted any candy. It worked out pretty well :D

My advice is to make it memorable and unique, but PRIVATE. No need for an audience.

As for money for a ring, the rule of thumb is 2 months salary, and I spent about that much, if not a little more. I went in thinking $4,000 and ended up paying $6,000, so expect to pay more than you have budgeted in your head. I played world of WoW for an entire summer instead of going out with my friends just to save up the money.

The ring itself: Size DOESN'T matter. You can get big diamonds cheap when they look like crap. My diamond was a little under a carat, but it was colorless to the human and and the cut was amazing. It made me squint in the sun. The setting is very important as well, as there is nothing more silly looking than a great diamond on a bland ring, and make sure your setting fits the diamond and isn't out of proportion either way.

Here are my ranks of importance in a diamond:

5. Size (any size .5 carats and up and your fine. I wouldn't go lower unless you're planning to replace it eventually)
4. Clarity (low number on inclusions)
3. Color (colorless as possible)
2. Setting
1. Cut (brilliance)

[Dylflon]

Dam that's expensive. We should all go the Bill and Ted route and propose with mood rings.

[Swan]

Cute proposal vid I saw awhile back
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[Typhoid]

I say it depends on the girl. I'd most likely do something sentimental and memorable for her.

But off the top of my head I don't really have any clever ideas. I do however like doing things awkwardly, so I'd probably do it via singing telegram by a guy in a gorilla suit.

[The Germanator]

Cute proposal vid I saw awhile back
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Jesus, I thought she was going to die! Good going.

I liked the story I heard about a guy proposing through his local newspapers crossword. That's a pretty clever idea.

I'm not sure how I'd do it. I have to get to know the right girl first.

[Angrist]

Wow Strangler, wow.

The only engagement rings we had were also our wedding rings, which we bought some weeks after our engagement. They cost €175. :D Silver, the cool thing is they were the first of its kind, the smith had just designed them.
Picture:

http://www.leonluijksedelsmid.nl/ringen2006c/image/image10.jpg

After a year I threw mine into the river. I hope some slimy creature found it and made it his precious.

[Professor S]

Some people have shown some surprise at the cost of my wife's ring, but you have to remember that I had been gainfully employed for a while at that point. Also, my family has been going to the same jeweler for 4 generations (used to be Neff's, now Ritter's on Samson St in Philly) so the quality I received was high and the ring actually appraised for almost $11,000. The setting is actually made by the in-house jeweler so there are only a handful of setting like it in the world. A good ring is not just a a symbol, it is an heirloom and investment that increases value with time.

To get the most out of your jewelry, do NOT go to major chains. Their salespeople don't know anything and their success is based on selling crap to people who don't know any better.

Ask around, mainly your parent's friends and perhaps grandparents. They know stuff like this. The best jewelry stores are holes in the wall with little fanfare, just knowledgeable people who do business the OLD way.

Funny story: Walking into the jeweler, you would have thought it was vacant. It was a HUGE space with two small glass counters. MaryAnn (owner and gemologist) came out wearing nurse's scrubs, a tight perm and horn rimmed glasses with a chain around the back of the neck.

She yelled "Hi, Kurt! Nice to finally meet you!" and unceramoniously dumped 3-4 diamonds (in a fancy manilla envelop) onto a velvet cloth. She told me that two of them were the best for me, but she wanted to show me a larger stone of lower quality and a smaller stone of very high quality as well. She asked me to pick out which was which and handed me the jeweler's glass (little eyepiece you see in movies). Mary Anne proceeded to teach me how to look for color, clarity and flaws in a diamond and then had me attempt to rate them based on the national quality scale (I was pretty accurate).

I was all set to pick the slightly larger stone, but Mary Anne asked me to step outside and look them all in the sun.

So we walked out in the middle of the street with about $50,000 in diamonds in our open palms. This blew my mind. When asked about how dangerous this was, she simply said:

"Honey, you could leave a 20 foot stack of hundreds in the street on Jeweler's Row. There are about 30 plainclothes (undercover police) out here right now."

It was the sun that made my decision, and it's because of the two that had similar clarity and color, the slightly smaller one had a better cut and it made me squint it sparkled so bright. With that, we went back inside and I han ded over more cash than I've ever spent at one time in my life.

But in the end, my wife still gets comments from other women about the ring, and the way it sparkles because of the GREAT cut with good clarity and color makes it stand out.

[KillerGremlin]

Wow Strangler, wow.

The only engagement rings we had were also our wedding rings, which we bought some weeks after our engagement. They cost €175. :D Silver, the cool thing is they were the first of its kind, the smith had just designed them.
Picture:

http://www.leonluijksedelsmid.nl/ringen2006c/image/image10.jpg

After a year I threw mine into the river. I hope some slimy creature found it and made it his precious.

Wait...so you were married? Or...are you just a nerd^2?