The worst thing that could possibly go wrong is if you hate the ring, right? Wrong: Think again…
It’s supposed to be a moment of honesty, vulnerability and slightly-damp knees. But not all proposals go to plan. We rounded up ten of the worst engagement stories courtesy of Twitter, reddit and some newly unearthed gems…
Yep: Suddenly staying single doesn’t sound quite so bad after all.
‘His reaction was to cry… and sing Bruno Mars’ ‘I was in a three year relationship with a guy. I paid all the bills, paid off his debt, kept the apartment clean, lost 30 pounds and then he cheated on me so I broke up with him. We met up for dinner one night to end everything on good terms and that’s when he proposed. I flat out said 'no'. His reaction was to cry and sing me Bruno Mars songs. I’m sure he hates Bruno Mars now. Oh, I forgot to mention he also pulled a Seth Rogen and proposed with an empty box.’
‘I had to check if we were engaged afterwards’ ‘Bit of a silly story, but we've been married a little over a year now.
Wandering to Tesco, we were discussing how it was nice that some friends of ours had got married before an elderly relative died. My (now wife) said we should probably hurry up and get on with it whilst some of our not well relatives were still around, and I agreed. We concluded that the following summer was probably a good time.
Then we carried on, did the week’s shopping, and once home with it all away and sitting on the sofa I had to ask: "Wait... Are we engaged now?" And we decided we were, and then we asked a couple of friends if we ought to tell our family, and they told us we were idiots not to have done so already.
The best bit is she started off: "I was thinking... Oh a cat!" As a cat ran past. Easily distracted, so we called it the engagecat the whole time we lived there.’
‘I pretended to use the bathroom’ ‘I had been dating a guy, a bit older than me, for less than a month. I was a sophomore in college. I came home one day and he had convinced my roommate to let him in and I found him in my room, the space covered with paper hearts he cut out, him kneeling on the floor with roses in one hand and a ring in the other. I handled it badly in that I pretended I didn’t see any of it and said ‘Oh hi! Didn’t know you were coming over! Be right back, I need to use the bathroom’ and then called my roommate from said bathroom to tell her that since she let him in, she can kick him out. I haven’t spoke to him since.’
‘She panicked and nodded’ ‘This is my friend’s story. She’s an independent person with a good career, her own car and apartment. She was dating this man who she found out thought that women should not have jobs other than cleaning the house and taking care of the children. She was about to break up with him when he proposed to her at a crowded restaurant. All the patrons looked on while this happened. She panicked and nodded to keep up an act while she whispered ‘no, pancake’ to him. He went along with this and they fake smiled and shared an awkward hug while all the patrons clapped. Later, they broke up.’
‘She eventually hit me’ ‘My wife says that the way I proposed was a traumatic experience and she wishes that I had done something a bit different. She was six months pregnant with our first child. We were living in our first shared, crappy apartment getting ready to go to a fair. (Why I didn't do it at the fair or something I couldn't tell you).
What I did do was morosely tell her there was something we needed to talk about. I sat her down and proceeded to tell her there was something bugging me in the relationship, and, “the way I see it there is only one way to fix it... Will you marry me?”
She genuinely thought that I was breaking up with her and leaving her stuck [with a] child to raise on her own before those last words came out. She started crying and eventually hit me, then said yes.’
‘I was told not to try this method myself – under any circumstances’ ‘My dad's method was pretty bad. He was supposed to pick my mum up from work (on his motorcycle), and he was late. She was p*ssed and chewed him out the entire way home. When they got home, he was fuming, and said something along the lines of ‘You want to know why I'm f*cking late? Here!’ and slammed down the box with the ring in it. He had been late because he was picking it out.
I learned this when I told my parents I was going to propose to my girlfriend, and was told that I should not under any circumstances try that method myself.’
‘I refused to sleep with him again unless he got tested’ ‘My ex cheated on me, we broke up, spoke some & decided to ‘work on it’. It had been, at that point, a two year relationship and was just a week away from Valentine's day. I refused to sleep with him again until he got tested. I didn't think he actually had something, but he did. An incurable something.
He came over, told me, and I cried. I said something to the effect of ‘if I have this I'm ruined for anyone else.’ ‘Well, if you have the STD you wanna get married?’
‘It happened randomly…’ ‘The way my dad proposed to my mum. It just happened randomly: Dad: How much weight do you think you can lose by September? Mum: Wait, what? Dad: I was thinking we could have the wedding then.’
‘She just kind of glared at him’ ‘My mum was cleaning the oven, like half her body in the oven scrubbing away while my dad stood next to her awkwardly and said "So.. uh… wanna get married?" Mum didn't hear him, and pulled her head out and he was just standing there with a ring in her face. Apparently she just kind of glared at him.’
‘I’m pretty sure he wasn’t trying to prank me’ ‘When I found out I was pregnant, my then-boyfriend asked: ‘So, do you wanna, like, go get married before you tell your mom you’re pregnant?’ I laughed in his face, and left him a few months later. He proposed again about three weeks after my son was born. I politely declined this time, and he said, ‘Haha, April Fools!’ (It was April 1) I’m pretty sure he wasn’t trying to prank me, though. I mean, he had a ring and everything.’