Figuring Out How to Propose

For Penny and Joe, Chico Hot Springs Resort was a special place for them in their relationship. It was the place of their first getaway. “That trip was my first Christmas gift to Penny, and I set it up because she said she wanted a professional massage,” he says. This meant the world to Penny. “I just mentioned it one day, and this showed that he actually listened to me and wanted to make it a full experience for me,” she says. “We always held Chico as a very special experience for both of us.”

With this in mind, Joe bent over backwards to create a ruse to get Penny to the resort. When the ring came in early, he booked the hotel room right away, talked to Penny’s boss, got her the day off, made up a story about how he had a big dinner with his co-workers at the resort and spouses were required to attend. “The whole plan depended on her not trying to pry into things,” Joe says. She didn’t, and it worked.

Dave Ghirardi, a network administrator from Levittown, NY, felt the pressure before he proposed to his long-time love, Maryann. He relieved the pressure by crafting a specific proposal. “My nerves stemmed from wanting to pull it off a certain way,” he says. “I was concerned about it coming off without a hitch.”

But all the planning in the world doesn’t mean that the unexpected will not happen. When Dave prepared to propose to Maryann on a Caribbean cruise, he didn’t realize that some friends on the trip could potentially ruin the surprise. “One scenario was to do it on the boat deck near the end of the trip,” he says. “I told some friends and quickly realized that was a mistake. They showed up on the deck when I was about to do it, and I was afraid she would think something was up.” That’s when Dave changed his plan. Instead, he placed the ring box on her pillow in their room. When she entered the room and saw the box, Dave walked in behind her and got down on his knee. She said yes.