Proper Proposal

Marriage. It was a heated topic of conversation in my household recently. A good friend of mine want's to propose to his girlfriend, the news was exciting until he hit me with the proposal. A romantic dinner, a glass of champagne blah blah blah. Whatever happened to originality or a little creativity? We've seen that proposal a million times and it's certainly lost all of it's flavor.

A scary fact is that 80 percent of women in the world are unhappy with the way they were proposed too. The beach and it's romantic sunset is yesterday's news, the romantic dinner is so old it's mouldy and the billboard advertisement doesn't always work out as well as one would hope. While all of these are grand gestures, they are not what a woman wants to tell her grandchildren, she wants a story dripping with originality, one that will get the appropriate "ooh and aah" response.

So what do we do with all the men out there lacking the creative juices to make a proposal worth talking about? We give them tips that can help them on their journey on discovering the best way to propose. The wedding itself is a journey and often a stressful one, but what people lose sight of is everything post and pre wedding. It's all very important.

Here are some elements which should be in a unique wedding proposal:

1. It should be creative so your partner knows you gave it some thought

2. It has to be emotional

3. It has to be personal - Using something which your partner can relate to

4. It should be surprising

5. It should be as original as possible

Now these points may seem vague and pretty general but here's an example for you. I love to read, I often have my nose buried in a good book. And there's nothing more appealing to me than a book shop, the quaint ones that have that old book smell and a comfy couch to sample read what's on offer.

If I were to be proposed to, I would love to be taken to one of my favorite book shops, given a book I'm very interested in reading and find a ring inside, in a neatly cut hole in the book. This is simple and yet so creative. And it has all the elements I stated above. Personal, surprising, creative and emotional. I think the problem men face is that they have the wrong perception on what a woman wants in a proposal.

We are all different but at the same time unique and the common perception of the more money spent the better the proposal, is complete and utter hogwash. So I urge spontaneity, creativity and above all else originality, remember this is your story too and you want it to be a legendary one.