Well, we had lived together for about 13 years and one day our 8 year old asked me “Why don’t you marry Daddy?” So I did and we all went on a honeymoon to pre-Katrina New Orleans.

- Kim F., Maysville, Oklahoma

Seth was studying abroad in London and I went to visit him for my spring break. He flew me to Como, Italy for a weekend trip. Como, Italy is where my dad’s side of the family is originally from and I have never been. The proposal came on day two of our trip. We went on a train ride up the side of a near by mountain. The top of the mountain overlooked lake Como. I was taking pictures and turned around and Seth was down on one knee. He timed it exactly right that the church bells went off right after I said yes. The sweet thing is that he had bought the ring 4 months ahead of time and had asked for permission from my mom before he left for the semester. I guess all of his friends in the states and overseas knew and no one had told me a thing..

- Sabrina P., Merriam, Kansas

It was my 30th Birthday and my fiancée was throwing me a spectacular party. She rented a restaurant and booked a band and invited the whole town. Little did she know that I was planning a proposal party at the same time. The night began with lots of great friends and fellowship. Everyone was having a wonderful time. After the second song, I asked the band for a moment (they were in on the secret) and began thanking everyone for coming out and celebrating this special day with us. I redirected all of my thanks to Jessica, of course explaining to her how special she is to me (she would not stop blowing this little whistle the whole time until I asked her to come up to the stage). She walked up and of course I took a knee. Being that only her parents and my parents with maybe only a few more exceptions did not know about it, the whole room was shocked and crying (including Jessica) Of course when she got it together she said “yes” loud enough for everyone to hear her. Well, that my story!

- Chris S., Batesville, Mississippi

Well, I simply went to my local Hallmark and got a packet of wedding invitations and filled one out as needed. Made it out to be as an invite to our wedding with a date as what ever we come up with. Well at her parents house while we all where in the living room just sitting around talking, waited for the perfect moment of silence with no one talking and I pulled the card out and handed it to her. She then got all blushed and thought she was jus getting a random card for some reason and she opened it and when she look at it she paused with just the biggest look of surprise. Then I went down to one knee and pulled the ring out and asked. Then she looked at her parents and looked down at me with a yes! Since then she’s run off with my brother so…now just thinking of something to top that with my current girlfriend of almost two years..

- Sammy L., Dalton, Georgia

Well, I simply went to my local Hallmark and got a packet of wedding invitations and filled one out as needed. Made it out to be as an invite to our wedding with a date as what ever we come up with. Well at her parents house while we all where in the living room just sitting around talking, waited for the perfect moment of silence with no one talking and I pulled the card out and handed it to her. She then got all blushed and thought she was jus getting a random card for some reason and she opened it and when she look at it she paused with just the biggest look of surprise. Then I went down to one knee and pulled the ring out and asked. Then she looked at her parents and looked down at me with a yes! Since then she’s run off with my brother so…now just thinking of something to top that with my current girlfriend of almost two years..

- Sammy L., Dalton, Georgia

In addition to how busy December can be, my wife and her twin share a birthday in December. Not a good time to get married, but a good time for a guy to sneak in an unexpected proposal. One sunny morning with crisp-fallen snow glittering everywhere, I had my then-girlfriend come over to spend the day with me and my daughters. Before going out, my daughters suggested singing Christmas carols to get us in a cheery mood. When unfamiliar lyrics had her giving a puzzled look to us all, she stopped singing to hear of family, and then marriage, and then Dad’s hope to have her as wife. The look of bewilderment became one of shock; aimed directly at me, now on one knee, and the boxed ring that suddenly appeared.
“Will you join this family as my wife?” was responded to with an overjoyed, sobbing “Yes, Yes, Yes”, and an unforgettable embrace. Plus, two young girls who worked hard to perfect the “wrong” lyrics and unsuspecting faces were rewarded with an opportunity to join in the next embrace.

- Kevin B., Edmonton, Alberta

Before I start telling the story, know first of all that it was an entire day event and included multiple videos, which I have posted on www.railroadst.com/wedding. Furthermore, although Bethany knew I was going to ask her soon, she didn’t know exactly when or how. With the help of her mom and sister, we were able to create enough doubt that she wouldn’t know immediately if I planned something elaborate. Bethany woke up Friday morning at 5:45am planning to open Cups Coffee at 6:30 and work the morning shift until 2:00pm. When she arrived at the coffee shop, Bethany first found a rose and note on the front door. The note led her to other notes around the shop at places where she usually prepares to open. The last note led her to a portable DVD player in the conference room and instructed her to watch a video that I’ve secretly filmed and edited. Getting instructions from this video to open a note by the DVD player at 7:30am (as well as finding out that her shift is covered), Bethany follows this new note’s instructions to return to her apartment with the DVD player. Walking in the door, her roommate, Deb, is ready with their bikes to go mountain biking, which she loves to do. Bethany and Deb get in the car and watch a second video on the way to the trail. After biking and hanging out together, Bethany and Deb returned to their apartment so that Bethany could get ready to have lunch. On the way to lunch, she is presented with yet another video. Although the mountain biking video alluded to the fact that Bethany would have lunch with me, upon walking into the Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar, her grandmother, who flew in from Maryland, and her mom were sitting at a table ready to have lunch. After spending time with Frankie and Mel, Bethany was picked up by one of her good friends, Christa. Christa gave Bethany a journal with 240 hand-numbered pages that had questions written on random pages throughout. The driving directions were located on the same page as the questions, but in order to find them in the right order, Bethany had to answer the questions correctly so that she would be directed to the correct page number. One set of directions during the hour and fifteen minute drive had Bethany watch another video. Finally, they arrived at Lake Oconee. The guys that are in my Bible Study were lined up ready to escort Bethany down to the dock where a friend’s boat was waiting. They drove Bethany to an island on the lake, where I had previously blazed a long trail up to boulders at the top of the island, which overlooked the lake. That was where Bethany and I finally saw each other. After climbing the ladder to the top of the rock, I asked her to be my wife and she promptly said yes. After driving around on the wave-runner tied up near the island, hanging out, and eating dinner on the island, we finally drove back to Athens where she watched a final video, and was congratulated by friends and family at Cups Coffee for a small engagement party.

- Charles R., Athens, Georgia

Early in our relationship, JR took me to the opening night of a romantic Tuscan restaurant downtown. Since, he told me he occasionally got e-mails and calls from the manager about specials.
One night many months later he told me they were having a “Customer Appreciation” night with free wine and appetizers and asked if I’d like to go with him and my best friend. I agreed and when we got there, the staff seated us and thanked us for being “Valued Customers.”
There was a disposable camera and fancy letter on our table on the restaurant’s stationary and I hoped it was from JR! To my dismay, it was from the Manager thanking all the guests for coming and encouraging everyone to take pictures for the website throughout the evening. I noticed all the tables had them, not just ours.
As we enjoyed drinks and food, JR got up for the restroom. When he came back he told me he ran into someone he knew and he’d like me to meet. He led me downstairs to another part of the restaurant but stopped in the middle of the floor. He whispered, “this is all facade, it’s all for you” before he got down on his knee and popped the question. Everyone around clapped and took pictures. “What good timing that everyone had cameras!” I thought.
As JR stood, he turned me around for an even bigger surprise and I saw that many of the flashes were coming from one big group of cameras behind us - our families and friends who had been hiding and witnessed the whole event.
As it turns out, all those letters on the tables were instructions for the customers to wait for the moment to take our pictures and commemorate the proposal! We have hundreds of pictures of every second and every angle of the proposal. We enjoyed the rest of the night celebrating in a private room with everyone.
I still can’t believe that JR got an ENTIRE restaurant staff AND patrons to play along with this “customer appreciation night” just for me.

- J.R., Fort Worth, Texas

I knew I loved Gary almost from the start. We dated for seven months and things were going wonderfully.  I came to his home one night after work, and he was sitting in his recliner, relaxing. His nine year old daughter was standing in front of him, smiling. Matter of fact, so was he. Tired, but suddenly revived as she said, “My daddy and I would like to know if you would marry him.” Oh, my gosh, I thought to myself. I said, “well, your daddy hasn’t asked me properly, he has to get on his knees and ask me.”  She thru a pillow on the floor, and so it went. We’ve been gloriously happy for two years now.

- Karen W., Etowah, Tennessee

I am currently deployed in Iraq with the US Army. I left in August 2007 with an “expected” leave time in April 2008. Once overseas, I switched my leave time to December so I could try to be home around Christmas - only I did not tell my girlfriend Christie. Everyone in my family and her family helped plan the event behind her back. They worked with me picking out an engagement ring and creating the perfect engagement. Christie continued to believe I would be home in April. I got her best friends to paint her nails, I booked a reservation at the local Olive Garden, I invited all of her family and all of my family to be there, and invited the NBC news crew. Once my plane got in, I picked up the ring at the jewelry store, changed into my dress blues uniform and went to Olive Garden to wait for Christie. My sister convinced Christie to go out to dinner with her. When they went to seat her at a table, I was there with a dozen roses. She screamed as the news crew got the entire thing on tv. I dropped down to one knee after our first hug in 4 months and told her “I came all this way to ask you if you’ll marry me”. She said yes! It wasn’t until about 30 seconds later that she realized she was on TV and both of our families and her best friends were there to witness the entire thing. We were interviewed by the news and appeared on the 10pm local NBC news. I returned to Iraq 2 weeks later. Our wedding date is 8.8.09.

- Kevin E., Greenfield, Wisconsin