GainesvilleMoms.com

I have to share this cute story I saw. Before I do, though, anyone have a romantic proposal story to share?

Here it is:

Couple archive quick smooch, declaration of love
By HELENA OLIVIERO
Cox News Service
ATLANTA -- Back in 1996, during a middle school field trip to Washington, Matt Whitmer and Leigh Lacy snuck away for a brief moment in the National Archives building while their eighth-grade classmates clustered around the Bill of Rights.
They grabbed hands and searched for a little privacy.
They found a nook near the original Declaration of Independence. And there, on marble floors, they kissed - ever so quickly - before rejoining the group.
But, of course, the puppy love didn’t last. They were fickle, and being in middle school, not quite ready to commit to a lifetime together.
But they both ended up at Miami University in Ohio and as freshmen, they flirted over texts, and then started dating for real. After college, they moved to Atlanta together. Whitmer got a job with an ad agency. Lacy started teaching seventh-grade math at Snellville Middle School.
And recently, they returned to the site of that middle school field trip - the National Archives. This time, at the Declaration of Independence, Whitmer got down on one knee.
‘‘It was 12 years ago we had our first kiss. I love you and want 12 million more. ... Will you marry me?’’ he asked.
She said yes, sending hundreds of history buffs and staffers into thunderous applause.
Their proposal is believed to be the first ever at the National Archives building, home to billions of documents including the Apollo 11 flight plan and a letter from Elvis to President Nixon. It attracts more than 1 million visitors every year, including historians and genealogists. And in recent years, it’s gotten a boost from the 2004 movie ‘‘National Treasure.’’
Staffers, who learned about the recent proposal ahead of time, enthusiastically gathered in the Rotunda for the big question.
‘‘We have some hardened cynical people here, and they dropped everything,’’ said Miriam Kleiman, public affairs specialist for the National Archives.
Even Allen Weinstein, archivist of the United States, cleared his schedule to be there to witness the engagement. Afterward, the presidential appointee invited the couple into his office and recited a Robert Frost poem: ‘‘The heart can think of no devotion. Greater than being shore to ocean. Holding the curve of one position. Counting an endless repetition.’’

Well, my husband didn't take me to a national monument, but I think his proposal was still pretty sweet. I went over to his apartment for dinner. When I got there, I could tell it was my favorite (by the smell of homemade sauce), Spaghetti!

He planned to have us eat in his room, which was pretty big, since he lived with a bunch of nosey roomates! When I walked in, I saw tea candles scattered everywhere, 45 to be exact, one for every month we had been dating. Some were even placed on the table in the shape of a heart. (It was a card table with a satin table cloth - gotta love men.) Red and white rose petals covered the room.

Well, needless to say, I knew something was up!

We had a romantic dinner, and at the end of the meal, he got up and walked over to the opposite side of the room. He came back with a beautiful white plate that had two longstem red roses on it. And in the middle of the roses was, you guessed it, a ring box. He got down on one knee and gave his sweet little speech. I think it's pretty obvious what my answer was...

We were only 22 and we had discussed getting married as we neared finishing college-so, I was not very surprised. He is not very good at hiding things-grateful for that trait now. I was visiting him one day and spotted a small black box on his dresser. When he left the room, I snuck a peek....you guessed it. I totally ruined the surprise. Did he think I would not notice the box? So, a little peeved, he asked me to marry him and gave me the sweet little ring that he later replaced with a very beautiful ring on our 10 year anniversary which was a very unexpected and romantic surprise right before a trip to Paris (to my Brother’s wedding)! At the time, I was bummed that we had no money, no big story to tell. However, looking back, it was so sweet and so special and a treasured memory. Here we are 15 years later and he is still way too good to me!

There wasn't anything particularly romantic about the proposal itself. I suppose because we were both in on it the entire time. You see, I was only 16 and him 17 when we decided it was forever. We were on our first official date when he asked me what I wanted for Christmas as we were standing in our local mall. He asked if I wanted jewelry. I said I'd be interested in a ring but only if it meant something. So, for Christmas that year, I received a promise ring... Only 3 months after we started dating. At prom that year he officially proposed, without a ring. We picked out a ring about 9 months later and he proposed to me once again in front of his aunt's house. I was 17, he was 18. We were married a year and a half later and have been together for nearly 13 years now, married for 10.

Well I knew something was up on Thanksgiving when he took my mom outside to "talk". He was asking her permission! And she gave him her engagement ring to trade in on something for me. (Of course I didn't find out about this until later. ) Flash forward a couple of weeks and we're in the mall when he said he had something to do alone.....I saw him in Marks and Morgan later by chance. When we met up again, he was very frustrated and I asked why. So he spilled.Turned out, they none of the jewlers would give him very much for mom's ring and he didn't have good enough credit to finance something. So I said let's just have her's sized and we can use it as is. Then we decided it would be fun to have engagement pictures taken. Keep in mind, I knew it was coming, just didn't know when. So on Christmas Eve, at his parents house he proposed. It was sweet, down on one knee. So I made the comment that my mom would be sorry she missed it....so he did it again the next day at my family's Christmas celebration! So I got 2 proposals!

I've actually never told this story...

My husband took me to the airport and said we were flying to Savannah, GA. As we started to get closer to Savanannah I noticed we were making a descent and heard the call numbers for Jekyll Island, a small barrier island in Southern GA. We landed and he had rented an electric car for the day--so much fun.

First, he drove us to the beach. He had packed a gourmet picnic with chocolates, cold soups, sandwiches, brownies...and at the bottom of the basket was a red box with an engagement ring. He asked me to marry him, and I was expecting it (we were expecting ), but not in this way, at this time or this special.

We left the beach and spent the whole day driving around the island having fun and doing tours. We stayed the night and flew the next morning to watch the sun rise over the water. I'm biased...but it is one of the best I have heard of...

Mine is not romantic at all. My husband and I knew each other casually before we ever went out. We finally went out in February of 1999. On the way home he asked me if I had a good time and if I would like to go out again, I said yes. He didn't say anything so I said "do you want to go out again?'. He then said, "oh, I'm going to marry you!". I thought he was nuts! Two months later he presented me with a ring he designed and had made for me. We were married on May 22, 1999. Happy ever since!

OK-First off-I just want to say how sweet all of these stories are!
Secondly...My husband proposed to me three, yes-THREE times!
Here are my stories (briefly):

1st proposal-We had been dating on and off-nothing too serious-all throughout high school. Then I started dating a different guy at one of the times we "broke up", and he (my hubby) started dating my new boyfriend's ex-girlfriend as revenge (we switched). Anyways-I found out that my guy was a jerk, but he stayed with that girl. Graduation came and gone for both of us...I moved to Gainesville to go to college, but I was visiting my parents in Lake City in November 2000, when I got a phone call right when I was getting ready to go back to Gainesville (he still had my number from when I lived there). We talked for a few hours, and it turned out he had broke it off with that girl. I gave him my new phone number and told him where I lived, and asked if he would call me in about an hour. He said he would, so I went back to Gainesville. As I waited for his call, and hour and 15 minutes passed, and he still hadn't called. I was starting to get upset when there was a knock at the door. My sister opened it to-you guessed it-him. We talked every night for 2 weeks for hours on end, in phone, and in person. 13 days after we got back together, we were playing around, wrestling on my floor, when he playfully tackled me, and proposed. The next day we walked to Wal-Mart (I lived about a block from it), and he got me a promise ring. When I told my parents, they flipped. We called off the engagement because of it.

2nd proposal (this is the WORST way to propose!):
After 4 years of dating, my husband had finally obtained permission from my parents to marry me. We picked out our rings together (a trio set), but it was supposed to be a surprise when he'd give it to me. Well, one day, we were sitting at my parent's house, and I was reading the paper. He walked up to me, and handed me the ring-without saying a word, and walked off! All I could think, was this BETTER not be my proposal! I talked to him about it, and he took it back the next day, saying he needed to show his mom.

3rd time: On Thanksgiving 2004, we were visiting his grandparents, and when we were about to leave to go home, he took his nephew (who is like a son to us), had him hold the ring, and asked me to marry him in front of his whole family. It turns out that he realized his mistake with proposal #2, and when he "had to show his mom", he actually got a bigger diamond set in it. I'm not one for upgrades or to be "bought", but what woman wouldn't want an upgraded diamond???

Wow! This turned out to be so long-I am so sorry! I can't wait to hear more stories!

What great stories! I love reading them .

I love reading all these stories -- it's nice to hear that true romance isn't dead.

Your stories were just pure wonderful...& funny. I really enjoyed reading them. I wish I had one, none of mine were really exciting.

But all I could say is once you find a good man ...for keeps. You better hang onto him...for life. Good men are hard to find now in days!