Aw Madora!  What a lovely story.  So wonderful that you married your first love!   

Madora.... I love your story!   I too married my high school sweetheart/first love.   It is hard to believe that you have a daughter that is 20!!   I am the same age as you and my daughter is 8.    I admire those who have had children early on in life and who have stayed together in there marriage.   I still can't imagine being so young with kids.   I know I wouldn't have handled it so well.         

Here's a repost of the original post-proposal post:
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She said YES!

So, here's the details.

Today's my birthday, so I was able to set up a convincing cover story for this weekend:  I wanted to go for a hike, hit Banff Hot Springs in the afternoon, and then spend the night in Canmore at a reasonably priced hotel.  I prepared the ring and stashed it in my hiking pack the night before, so that I could sneak it out in the morning with no questions asked. We headed up to the mountains in the early afternoon, and hiked up to Grassi Lakes near Canmore (see pics).  Normally I like to do long hikes, but I chose this one as it's only about 5 km round trip, and the trail runs up past a waterfall and to two small, deep turquoise-blue lakes with a great view over the valley (I got the comment "This is so romantic" on the way up, so I knew I was on the right track ). 



Once we'd had a hike around and saw the lakes, I sat her down on a bench near the lakeshore and told her I had to 'use the little boy's tree'.  I returned holding an odd-looking, round softball size stone, saying "Hey honey, look at this rock".  I quickly slipped to one knee, split the 'rock' open to reveal the ring mounted inside a coconut geode and popped the question.  She was STUNNED.  Afterwards she told me that the sparkle of the geode and ring together completely dazzled her, and that it took a second to see the ring itself, but when she did....    !!!  Hugs, kisses, tears, the works.  I had to gently prompt her again by telling her she needed to say 'Yes', because she was almost speechless.  We hiked back down to the car, and checked into our 'reasonably-priced hotel room' (check out the virtual tour... it's the exact interior and layout of our chalet).  We had to do a little bikini shopping, because despite me setting up the Hot Springs as a cover story, we forgot swim suits....  I guess I was a little preoccupied when packing!  We also picked up some wine, fruit, cheeses and chocolate for later in the evening, then went back to for a hot tub before dinner.  Dinner was at the Crazyweed Kitchen in Canmore...  a small, funky place and DELICIOUS. 

The entire time, neither of us could stop looking at the ring, especially under different lighting conditions.  She said that when she first saw it in the geode, her first reaction was 'There's NO WAY he got me something THAT BEAUTIFUL' (she knew I was on a budget).  She thinks it's PERFECT for her, and couldn't imagine changing a thing.  When I woke up this morning she'd been awake for a half-hour just staring at it.  It's a knockout...  you can see it sparkling from across a room, especially if it catches a bit of sunlight or overhead lighting which turns it into a FIREBALL.   She did wheedle the price out of me, but swore to 'forget' that I told her in case anyone else asks   . Let's put it this way though... If I had spent what she thought it was worth, I'd have been in big trouble for not paying off the rest of the car loan. Above all she's thrilled to have a unique and personalized ring, and says she feels so special to wear it....  even though I didn't go with a princess cut, she still feels like a princess wearing it.

I've sent her out to flash the ring around and let her girlfriends drool over it, and to get a manicure (gotta look good for the HANDSHOTS, of course!); I'll post handshots and geode-shots later.
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Some extra details for those who've been following the process:

I was having a minor freak-out until the last minute about this proposal... I had got the ring, made reservations, and the weather was looking good, but two last minute problems came up:

-The geode hadn't arrived as of mail drop-off on Friday morning.
-She found out Thursday afternoon that she was scheduled to leave for a week of field work on Sunday (11 hour drive to Manitoba!).  The plan looked shot, but I was going to push through anyways.

The geode came in about an hour after the lettermail on Friday... I was estatic.  But that field work issue was still there...  dang.

Saturday morning, she got a call that the field work would be delayed a few days....   GAME ON!!!!

Otherwise things went smoothly; she had no idea that I'd bought the ring, and I had been complaining until the night before about how tough it was to find the right setting, and that it'd be a while.  Completely in the dark.

Oh!  Takakkaw Falls!  Near Field, BC, right?

Yes!!!  That's the one!  They were such beautiful falls.  I think someone told us there that it wasn't the biggest waterfall in Canada, but it was huge to me!

WOW...what a view and a proposal story Gemelli!!

thanks Jen!

Well mine wasn`t romantic but it sure was funny.
I was 17 and did Ju Jitsu as a hobby. One night Bob ( my hubby to be ) and his pal turned up to watch because they were considering joining to keep fit. Bob was 24 and the instructor asked him did he fancy giving it a go and partnered him with me.
Bob was horrified and said " but you`ve put me with JUST a girl , I can`t pretend to attack a girl !!! "
I decked him there and then ..... he never called me JUST a girl after that ...
Anyway it was the start of our romance and 2 years later my sister had a baby so I spent every Friday night babysiting my new nephew and Bob came too. One Friday night my sis came straight out with it and said Bob i think it`s about time you bought my sister a ring. I was mortified, blushed and couldn`t wait to get out of there.
Later on as we were walking home, Bob suddenly stopped in the middle of the footpath and said ... I will you know.
I said you will what ? He said, buy you a ring and he said turn around, look behind you and that`s the Church I`m going to marry you in and it was. He`d picked his spot, didn`t exactly ask me but I got his drift 
As for my sis, well she STILL has a big mouth lol
Lynne

Mine isn't that overly romantic.  We had talked about getting engaged for sometime.  My birthday was approaching and he asked me was there anything I would like, to which I replied 'an E/R'.  He just laughed.

We were living in London at the time and heading home for a holiday, so we decided to go ring shopping back at home, he arranged breakfast and we went ring shopping afterwards.  All was going well and we finished breakfast, we started to walk around and all of a sudden he turned to me looking kinda white and said 'Need to go bathroom' .. he got an attack of the you know whats ... Delightful !.  Anyway he says you stay here at the jewellery store and hold my wallet.  He just ran up about 4 flights of escalators (when you have the urge to .... thats a long way) .. he got up to the top of the escalator and the lady says 'Its 50 cents" ... He remembered I had his wallet and almost died .. she saw the look on his face and said "You can pay me afterwards' Haha.

He came back downstairs looking slightly refreshed I guess you could say and said "I need some money to pay the toilet lady" .. he went back up the escalators and gave her something like $5 and tipped her he was that relieved.

So I'm still waiting downstairs and by this time, I was starting to think it was all a bit unromantic and that we should postpone the shopping trip. 

We went to a few more jewelery stores (in between toilet breaks) and finally settled on one which to be honest, I felt was really rushed and I didn't really thoroughly think it through.  I still have it but I wish I had of let my fiance pick it out.  Oh well.

He walked around with it for a few days and one day we were at his mums house and I found out that my visa to get back into the UK was stalled and I maybe deported on entry.  I burst into tears when we started to devise a back up plan should I be deported and my he be allowed through (He has a UK passport).  He would pack up the flat etc .. and resign and come home etc ..

I was crying and he said please don't, this will make you feel better - and he proposed.

He always says it was an unromantic day.

The sweetest thing is that everytime he catches a lovely moment in time, he turns to me and says 'Will you marry me all over again ?' and says 'Now thats romantic !!' , nodding with much self-assurance.

We were watching the sunset from our driveway a week or so ago and he rushed in the house to get me a glass of wine so he could set the scene and asked me again..  He has his moments where I want to squish him he's so romantic in hiw own way.

I lived with my husband for a few years before we were married. The day before he proposed, we made a wedding cake for one of my closest friend. She asked for fresh cream sponge, so we had to do it on the day of the wedding. That morning, at 5am, we were snarling at each other, cursing the whole idea of marriage, weddings etc and making teeny little tiny fairy cakes to decorate the big cake with (my friend is a graphic artist. She gave me 43 million sketches of what that sodding cake was to look like). She wanted coloured sugar crystals on top of each of the tiny cakes and the only brand we could find had green crystals in them. She didn't want green. So there we were, picking out the green sugar with tweezers before the sun had even come up and so not into ever getting married or going to another wedding as long as we lived.

We went to the wedding, the reception, the dance, everything - sat through it all in a haze of exhaustion. The cake took nearly six hours to make and we were only just in time. We sat next to the minister and his wife at the meal and he asked us why we weren't married. Since we couldn't offer a suitable excuse on the spur of the moment, (and since we didn't want to talk about the cake trauma) he told us to come and see him to make arrangements.

Next day, we were going into the city- my then boyfriend said he had an appointment with his tailor (I'm beyond bad tempered by this point - after the day of the cake trauma, couldn't he just pick out his own suits, just this once?)

Anyway, when we arrived, we went through the "why do they keep digging up the roads in Glasgow and didn't there used to be a carpark here?" ritual and squabbled a bit about the damage to the car etc so we were in a really nice, friendly state of mind when he said "I don't really need a new suit. Let's get a ring."

That cheered me up!

We spent the day in the diamond arcade,  trying on rings, settled on an EC solitaire and went to the jeweler we'd chosen to pick out the stone and have it set.

My now husband proposed over lunch in my favourite restaurant (if you're ever in Glasgow you need to eat at Rogano. It's sublime).

It was nine months after that until we got round to planning the wedding. We were married (by that same minister) in the same church, a year to the day after my friend's wedding. Best thing I ever did!

Jen

Thats my type of man - who needs clothes when you can have diamonds !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a lovely thread 

I love everyones stories 

I have been asked twice my by partner and still never got around to getting married .
(maybe next year )

The 1st time my partner took me out for the day to lincoln it was a chilly december day and we was walking arm in arm around the old part of lincoln talking about the future  and then we walked up to the cathedral.
He said wouldn't this be a stunning place to get married then got down on one knee and pulled out a beautiful brilliant cut engagement ring .
I was shaking like a leaf with excitement and said yes 
and elderly couple saw him propose to me and walked over and wished us a long and happy life together ..

sadly we parted for nearly 3 years while we both did some growing up .

Then we got back together and had a wonderful son  we talked about getting married again and if i still had my ring . i said that i would like to get married but not till our son is older so he could be a part of the wedding also  and that i would be happy enough to get my old ring re set all a fresh .

Well recently my mum offered out the blue to look after our little man for us and said that we need some
time for our self's sometimes. thinking nothing of it i packed his bag up and my partner dropped him off at my mums for the day .
when he came back i asked him what shall we do and he said i dont know have a nice meal and a walk around somewhere for some  fresh air .
we headed off out in the car and ended up at the tropical butterfly house near sheffield and he said i thought you would love it here  when we was in the tropical house i was amazed by all the different butterflies and they was really used to people so they come and land on your hands .
This large orange butterfly landed on my hand and i said that it was amazing and beautiful and then my partner said i think i know a butterfly that would look more beautiful on your finger .

what ?? then he pulled out my diamond butterfly ring and asked me if i was finally ready to marry him 
I didnt say yes because i was in tears of happiness 

we went for a meal before coming home to tell everyone and we talked about weddings and i said yes we will have to start making plans