You’ve been playing the field like a pro. You go to bars and meet people, and if they don’t mind getting a little romantic, you don’t mind either. So you romance one lonely soul after another, and it’s all well and good until you romance someone that has you totally blindsided.
You fall in love. Before you know it, your eyes zoom into one person, and that sends your heart aflutter. You cannot get your camera mind to pan right or pan left or even to fade out. Someone has caught your undivided attention, and your happy days are over. Or maybe your happy days have just begun. It’s a matter of perspective.
Once you decide that you’re ready to spend your forever with this person, you need to get your proposal game on point. Follow these steps to improve your chances of getting an affirmative answer.
- Weigh your chances
Sure, you’re so madly and deeply in love you want to risk it. You’re ready to compromise your self-worth for a shot at a happy ending. Still, you need to be proactive. You want to have a little security here.
You can’t allow yourself to be rejected without a practiced tongue-in-cheek retort, for instance. If your proposal video goes viral, you want to be that person who took a proposal rejection the coolest way possible. That goes without saying you should aim for a yes.
- Pick a date
You can’t just pick a random date from the calendar. The date you choose should have significance to your relationship with your partner. Maybe it’s the date of your first date. Or it’s the date when you realized you’re in love.
Furthermore, make sure the date you pick will be amenable to the kind of proposal you plan to stage. For example, if you’re proposing outdoors, you better research if no rain showers are expected on that day.
- Choose a place
Just like the proposal date, your chosen place should also have significance to your relationship. Here there are many possibilities. You can zero in on your shared experiences and propose where you met. Or you can get more creative.
Maybe propose to your partner where they first had their heart broken. The place where they can no longer go because it’s attached to so many bad memories. Explain that it’s your way of helping your partner to reclaim the narrative. Just cross your fingers your marriage offer does not get rejected, or you’ll end up going out of your way to avoid that place yourself after your failed proposal.
- Buy a ring
This factor will depend on your budget. Ideally, your offering marriage because you’re financially ready to do so. And if that’s the case, you can afford a bespoke ring from a respected jeweler. You can’t go wrong with a diamond stud. And the bigger the stone, the better. The harder it’ll be for your partner to say no. That is unless they’re not some opportunistic person, which is all the more reason why you should marry them.
- Get people involved
The you-and-me-against-the-world drama is so passe. You want to involve as many people in your proposal as possible. Ask your parents to attend. Your siblings too. Even your cousins and friends. Have them all witness your special day. This way, you’re sure someone will record the proposal. You’ll have a shot at going viral.
In all earnestness, though, getting people involved in the proposal is a good way to start your possible union. They say it takes a village to raise a child. It takes a village to keep a marriage working too.
- Pop the question
Compose the best speech you can muster. Read some Shakespeare if you need inspiration. But while you want to keep it sweet and romantic, you don’t want your speech to sound too mushy. So sprinkle a little humor here and there. Get your partner laughing so hard that they forget you snore so loud.
Should the love of your life rejects your proposal, don’t take it personally. Well, take it personally but don’t take it too harshly. Remember that there are things beyond your control, and your significant other’s decision to either marry you or not is one of them.
Rest assured that you’ll bounce back from this defeat. You have it in you to turn unfavorable things in your favor. Just how you might ask. Well, for one thing, you can go back playing the field like a pro. Who knows your forever is in one of those bars you used to frequent, waiting patiently, ready to say yes without question.
