Buying an engagement ring for my girlfriend Jenna was a bit overwhelming for me since I had never bought jewelry of any type for anyone. Once accomplished I was feeling quite proud of myself until the jeweler said to me, “How do you plan to give it to her?”

“Yikes!”, I thought, “Don’t you just drop on one knee and say ‘will you marry me?’ or something like that?”

“Well, gosh, I don’t know. Any good suggestions?” I asked aloud.

What my terrific jeweler suggested to me was so much fun and surprised Jenna so well that I wish I could do it all over again! Here’s what I did:

I found a restaurant  I knew Jenna would love.  It had just the cozy atmosphere that she goes crazy over.  When we arrived I asked to be seated outdoors. We had a very nice lunch and a glass of good wine, taking our time as we enjoyed the beautiful day together.

After lunch I suggested dessert and Jenna did her “Oh no, don’t tempt me honey” thing. She was okay with me ordering something though so we asked the waitress to bring the dessert tray.

The waitress presented the huge tray with a flourish. It was filled with a large variety of desserts, but in the center of the tray was a beautifully painted ceramic plate that called out to Jenna just as I hoped it would.

Jenna reached out, pulled her hand back with a guilty look at me, then said, “Oh, what the heck! You only live once!” and picked up a chocolate torte.

As she ate her torte, the decoration of  the plate became more visible.  Suddenly she could see her name, then the words “Will You Marry Me?” carefully painted on the personalized plate. As she looked down at the plate then back up at me, I took the beautiful engagement ring out of my pocket.  Her face lit up like I’d never seen it before as she reached out to take my hand. “Yes, Yes, Yes” she laughed.

Heck I didn’t even have to ask!

Frustrated with the inability to find Mr. Right, I took a giant leap of faith and started contacting people through the online dating sites.  Not everyone I “met” was someone I was compatible with, but I did find one person that I particularly enjoyed corresponding with via e-mail, so much so that Tom and I decided to speak to each other on the telephone. He was a big hit with me! Humorous, intelligent, and thoughtful and I found myself looking forward to meeting him in person. So Tom and I met for coffee one Sunday morning and, even though this sounds like a cliché, it was love at first sight.

We both found what we had been looking for in a relationship — warmth, understanding, respect, and love. We were perfect for each other and throughout the next year developed a very strong relationship. During that time, we spent quite a bit of time at the computer, which seems rather fitting considering the way we met. Tom and his best friend, Mike, own a web site design company and we often looked at sites in progress so I could give Tom my opinion. He’s very proud of his work and so am I.

One Saturday evening Tom asked me to look at his latest site design so we went over to his place to check it out. He had mentioned the site several times during the week, saying it was giving him some difficulty; he couldn’t come up with just the right graphics to make his point the way he wanted to.

As soon as we got to his place Tom started up his computer and typed in the address. Then the site came up in a burst of fireworks. The lights in the room dimmed above us and I heard a champagne cork pop. “Just keep watching that screen Janet” Tom said, so I kept my eyes glued there waiting to see what would happen next.

I watched one last burst of fireworks of every color imaginable, and then, from the screen, a hand came toward me holding a ring . . . a very spectacular diamond ring with rainbow colors glinting off of it. It was all just incredible! I laughed with delight and turned to tell Tom he is an absolute genius, and there was that very same hand holding a diamond ring toward me, only this time the hand was attached to Tom as he knelt down beside me to ask me to be his wife.

My ecstatic “yes” was followed by a champagne toast to our future together.

My boyfriend Carl and I had been dating for several years when we decided it was time for us to get married. It was pretty cut and dried, not a lot of romance or discussion. We didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a ring because we were saving to buy some property where we could have a couple of horses, a dream both of us had had since childhood.

We always reserved our Saturday mornings for horseback riding at a friend’s ranch and one Saturday Carl told me to meet him extra early so we could watch the sun come up from our favorite spot.

We started our ride when it was still dark but both of us were wide awake and looking forward to the ride. I had baked fresh cinnamon rolls the night before and brought them along with a thermos of hot coffee. The plan was to ride up into the mountains as it got light and stop in time to watch the glorious sunrise over the pasture down below.

As we rode up the trail Carl reached over and touched my arm so tenderly it made me want to cry. I just love that man so much it hurts! I turned to smile at him and saw that he was holding a little box out toward me. We walked our horses off to the side of the trail and I opened the box to find a precious gold ring with little diamonds all across the top. It was the most beautiful ring I had ever seen.

“Carl” I whispered, “I thought we weren’t going to do this.”

Carl reached over and slipped the ring on my finger as my eyes filled with tears.

“Joanne, I love you so much that I want every single person who sees you to notice that you have a ring on your finger and know that our love for each other is a special thing for us. That ring is nothing fancy, but the depth of love it carries is beyond measure. Will you be my wife?”

What a special moment in my life. That was fifteen years ago and I’m reminded of it every time we ride our horses up that trail to watch the sunrise together.

My fiancé James is the director of our local high school band and he used that position to his advantage the day he proposed to me.

I work in a small office in which I’m by myself most of the time. The office is located in the center of a large parking lot that usually has very few cars in it and I overlook that parking lot.

It was a Friday morning during football season, and as is usually the case, I could hear the marching band practicing in the distance. That was a familiar sound every day as James led his young band members in their maneuvers to be displayed at the Friday night football games.

This morning I noticed that the sound of the band was getting closer and closer. “Terrific”, I thought, “sounds like I’ll get to see them march by this morning.” Five minutes later, sure enough, I saw the whole band rounding the corner, James in the lead.

I watched in surprise as the band turned into my parking lot and began marching into one of their formations. Only the snare drums sounded as they moved precisely into place — a giant heart formed before my eyes. They began playing “My Heart Belongs to You” and James marched smartly to the center of the heart.

James knelt down and looked up at my window where he could see me watching in amazement. First he put his hands over his heart and mouthed “I love you Karen” and then he held a box up toward me. He opened it and I could see that a ring glinted in the sun. At that moment, the entire band, in perfect synchronicity shouted, “Karen. Will you marry James?”

My answer was much quieter, but the beaming smile on James’s face told me that he had heard my “yes” quite clearly.