OK, Romeo, Try Topping These Proposals

Before popping the question, there are always lots of little questions to consider.

Where should I propose? How should I say it? Do I get down on one knee? Should I buy the ring before or should we pick it out together?

Or at least that’s what we thought most people think about before proposing matrimony. But after plowing through 253 tales of unparalleled romance, we realize there were other urgent questions to consider.

What if we get mugged? Where can I get a horse and a suit of armor? Where do I get a hundred carrots?

Don’t completely understand? Read on, romantics.

Knight in Shining Armor

My beloved came to the school where I taught kindergarten. He was riding a horse, wearing knight’s armor and carrying roses. His best friend was along in tights as his page, trumpet blaring.

There were details for days: a tiara, video (he recited Keats!), champagne and a limousine full of bridal magazines! You bet I said yes.

--Lori Fechner

Palos Verdes Estates

Hi-Tech and Heartfelt

We were at dinner in a romantic restaurant when his pager went off. He seemed puzzled, asked if I had given the number to anyone. I said no. He handed the pager to me. The message read, “Hilary, I love you. Will you marry me?” He pulled out the ring while I was reading. Soon thereafter he had to rush to a phone to let the paging company know that I said yes.

--HILARY DE CAMP

Redondo Beach

A Sign From Above

I work on the eighth floor of an office building. One day during an executive meeting in the boardroom, I noticed something different about the window washers outside. Instead of the usual smock, one of them was wearing a tuxedo. It was Silas holding a sign that read, “Will you marry me, Miranda?” It was the most romantic (and embarrassing) moment of my life.

--MIRANDA ROMBERG

Woodland Hills

Rich in Love

“I don’t have any money or anything, but will you marry me?” I said yes to this incredible man. What makes this proposal so special is how vulnerable Patrick was. I thought, “This is the man I want to grow old with.”

--RANA MC DONALD

Culver City

X Marks the Spot

We were in San Francisco for the UCLA-Stanford game, but on Friday morning we went sightseeing. About noon we boarded cable car No. 51, and when we reached the top of Nob Hill we were its only riders.

“Remember where we are,” said Clark, as I took in the incredible views.

“Why?” I asked. “Because this is where I ask you to marry me.”

--TONI PAUL

Ventura

Hamming It Up

Undaunted by the long-distance telephone operators’ strike in November 1950, my persistent suitor tuned up his amateur radio station in Danville, Ill., contacted a ham in Hollywood and asked her to call me in Beverly Hills. The message? “Please marry me!” With the whole world listening, how could I say no? We celebrate our 48th anniversary Feb. 17 (and still debate the date he proposed--it was 11 p.m. in California, and 1 a.m. in Illinois.)

--MYRA MANNHEIMER

Los Angeles

Heartbreaking

We had been the best of friends for many years. He had seen me through the end of a bad marriage. I had seen him through several failed relationships. He had taught me house remodeling, I had taught him to rebuild a BMW engine. We went each year to his farm to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah for him and to cut down a Christmas tree for me.

As I sat by his hospital bed, I heard a small voice.

“Will you marry me?”

Surprised, I answered, “I never knew you thought of me in that way.”

The next morning, as I prepared to go to the hospital and give him my answer, I got a call to come as soon as possible. Israel had gone into cardiac arrest during chemotherapy and was in a coma. I hope he heard my “Yes!” before he died.

--VICKI MEREDITH

Burbank

A Good Deal

My husband’s family was in the jewelry business. He said to me, “If I can get a ring for wholesale, are you interested?”

We’ve been married 32 years.

--LIZ SHWACHMAN

Covina

Can’t Steal Love

While in New York on vacation, Andrew took me to a romantic dinner. Strolling back to our hotel through Central Park (what were we thinking?), we were confronted by a mugger. When Andrew emptied his pockets, out came a black velvet box. When I realized what he had planned--and that my engagement ring had just vanished forever--I was crushed! But Andrew took our hotel key ring and slipped it on my finger.

--MARY HOGAN BORAKOVE

West Los Angeles

Vegetarian Proposal

When my husband met me, we used to joke about the engagement ring being at least two carats. For my 28th birthday he presented me with just that--two carrots and a nice watch. However, when he proposed one year later, he covered all 20 steps leading to my apartment with long-stem carrots and a proposal poem, and a ring awaited me when I opened the door. They were served on a bed of carrots. The [first lines of the] poem spelled out “WILL YOU MARRY ME?” I melted and said yes!

--MOLLY BALLANTINE

Pacific Palisades

High Anxiety

I’ve stood on taller peaks than “High Exposure” in the Shawangunk Mountains of New York but never felt higher than that golden October morning in 1987 when my boyfriend leaned over the cliff of a 300-foot precipice and, gazing 75-feet below to me, shouted out the words that have rocked and melted countless hearts before ours: “I love you! Will you marry me?”

My heart was thumping so fast I should have fallen off the highly exposed rock, and I shouted up this reply: “Will you ‘drop’ me if I say no?” We’ve been adventurously bound and roped together through two kids, two dogs, 11 years and mostly “happily ever after” trials!

--LEZLIE LEHMANN

Los Angeles

Grave Situation

My plan was to propose to Tracy in Oahu at sunset and catch it all on film. But we got lost and wound up in a military cemetery. Undeterred, I suggested taking pictures by the freshly dug graves. Thinking I had lost my mind, Tracy humored me. I set the self-timer, ran to her and popped the question. She said yes immediately.

--DAVID STORY

Santa Monica

Head Over Heels

My proposal was to dream about. As we were walking on an icy sidewalk to his car, I slipped and fell. Being a full-blooded gentleman, Rodney waited while I got up. As he waited, he said: “Hey, kid, how about it?”

Rubbing my sore backside I said, “How about what?”

Romantically, he said: “Us getting married?”

Overwhelmed by all this gallant attention, I promptly fell again.

--DIANA MUIRHEAD

Encino

Message in a Bottle

In February 1998, we traveled to Wailea, Hawaii. We were on the beach when my now-husband said, “Let’s take a walk to an area called Turtle Bay.” I noticed a bottle floating in the waves. I chased after it. I grabbed it. I reached inside and pulled out a white handkerchief. My husband had written a message on it that read: “My Maui Princess, Marry Me!”

--ANDREA FORTE

Toluca Lake

One for the Gipper

I got together 3,176 students at the UCLA-USC football game to ask my wife, Kathy, to marry me. The traditional halftime show started as it usually might, with students spelling out “UCLA vs. USC” on cards. But the next two card stunts caught Kathy completely by surprise. Sitting across the field, we saw “KSY Will You.” Then came “Marry RDB?” After she wiped away the tears from her face, she said yes. UCLA may have lost the game that day, but I won the big prize.

--RICHARD BRISACHER

Los Angeles