Be a Love Detective

Now that you’ve got the ball rolling on crafting the perfect proposal, it’s time to get sneaky. In order to craft a memorable, loving proposal, you’ll need to do some detective work and find out what she wants.

In the most indirect ways, start your investigation. Fish around with her friends (without your girlfriend’s knowledge, of course) and see if she mentioned what she wants you to do. Find out if she’s made comments about other friends’ proposals. Remember to ask what kind of engagement ring she wants and if she had a specific scenario in mind. Hold off on going to her parents just yet. Do talk to a close sibling who may have heard her go on and on about her dream proposal in the past.

One fun way to find out is to rent a movie like “She’s the One” or “The Wedding Singer” (with the best proposal scene ever) and subtly ask her what she thinks about those proposals. Maybe say “oh, that’s so unrealistic. Could you see me doing that if I was proposing to you?” That might get her talking about what she wants, and maybe mildly excited that you’re even thinking about popping the question.

Do your best to avoid asking her directly about the proposal, unless of course you know she would want to be asked. Remember, you want to keep the romance in all of this and you want to be the hero—her knight in shining armor. She’ll appreciate that you went to such great lengths to find out what matters to her.