Asking the love of your life to spend the rest of her days with you is not something to be done lightly. The moment, the atmosphere and above all the ring have to be as close to perfect as you can get. The choice of location is not so tricky, the right moment can be fairly tricky but the ring can outfox you completely even if it’s the most expensive one in the shop. As we all know girls like shopping, and when it comes to such a symbolic item as the ring some of them would like to be involved in the choice – even if it means ruining the surprise. A quick look on some fashion, wedding and beauty related forums and communities shows that a large per cent of ladies want to be able to choose their own engagement ring. Some want to be surprised and will be happy with whatever you choose, some will smile and say yes but later ask if they can exchange for something more their style. But my research has shown that the most popular option it seems is for you to take her into a jewelry store, pop the question there and then and let her choose the ring on the spot like in the scene in Tiffany’s from the movie “Sweet Home Alabama”. The downside being that if you had a certain budget in mind it’s just gone out the window… Now not every girl will want to choose her own ring. There is a large proportion who will want you to choose it for them and will wear whatever you give them with unquestionable pride and love.A lot depends on certain elements beyond your control, for example does she have competitive friends who will look straight at ‘the rock’ and comment on its size and value? Does she make a lot of effort picking out her outfits and like to have complete control over how she looks all the time? How do you find out if she wants to be completely swept off her feet or if she wants to pick out her own engagement ring without ruining the surprise and moment when you pop the question?Well there is the proposal in the jewelry store option and there is another which my research has also shown as a popular solution. 2 ways of doing it actually:1.Just buy the diamond and present it to her when you propose – this way she can choose the setting and even exchange it for another one and you still give her something nice, sparkly and expensive. 2.Buy a placeholder ring from somewhere like bidz.com so she can wear something until you both choose the ring of her choice. When I proposed to my girlfriend I got the wrong size ring so we had to take it back to be resized. There was no way to know her ring size without giving the game away and luckily she was more than happy with my choice. So don’t sweat too much over the right ring, give her something be it a diamond or a placeholder then you can go online to some of the sites that let you design your own unique ring and everyone’s happy.

How do you propose marriage? The tradition of men proposing to women is firmly entrenched in social tradition, although there is increasing evidence that women have become bolder and have taken it upon themselves to do the proposing themselves.

The most important thing, however, is to be able to tell when’s the right time to make a marriage proposal. While the act of proposing itself is not rocket science, it is essential to develop the instinct for perfect timing, coupled with better knowledge and ways to propose marriage.

How can you tell if it’s the right time to propose marriage? Here are some signs:

• When there’s frequent talk of the future and plans are discussed in more specific terms • When the subject of children enters into the conversation

• When there’s talk about buying a home

• When both agree that a joint savings account is a good idea

• When suggestions for a honeymoon come up

• When one of you suddenly utters, “I think it’s time we settled down.”

• When suggestions are made that parents of both man and woman should get together and one gets introduced to the “other” family and extended family during a fancy dinner

• When the two of you are looking at a jewelry catalog

• When one gives an ultimatum such as “make a commitment now or I take a hike.” The excitement of proposing to your favorite person can make you follow more traditional ways of popping the question, because you’re shy or don’t have time to think, but there are certainly many unique ways to propose marriage. We’ve got a handful of “how to propose marriage” ideas that you can use or improvise on:

• Send a live singer to her office. The live singer tells her that he’s got a message for her. The singer then sings a romantic tune and hands her a piece of paper with your proposal;

• Have someone from a jewelry store call her to request that she drop by the store so her finger can be measured and so that she can select the setting she wants for her engagement ring;

• Request her to pick up your suit at the dry cleaner’s. When she gets to the dry cleaner, she doesn’t get a suit but a tiny box. The dry cleaner clerk hands her a receipt saying “here’s your receipt” but at the back of the receipt is the question you handwrote earlier: “will you be my wife?” Talking about perfect ways to propose marriage…

• Invite her for dinner. When it’s time for dessert, put the boxed ring on the dessert plate. (This idea probably has been used so many times in the movies.) See, you’ve just received four free marriage proposal ideas. You can come up with your own version. All it takes are creativity and some knowhow, and the next thing you know; “how to propose marriage” becomes a second nature to you.

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