So, you’ve decided it’s time to propose, you’re ready, you think the answer will be yes, and it’s the Right Time. We’ve got other blogs about how to choose a ring, (Choosing a ring to suit your hand), whether to involve your dearly beloved in choosing the ring, (Should you choose your fiancés's engagement ring without her?) and all that useful stuff, but we’ve never written a blog about WHERE to propose. In summer it feels like there are more options, somehow, and we might blog about them when the weather gets warmer, but this is our Winter Engagement Proposals cheat sheet.
Your first question should be: do you CHOOSE somewhere that is already special, or MAKE somewhere special.
THE MAKING OF YOUR WINTER ENGAGEMENT PROPOSAL
Making your winter engagement proposal memorable is a beautiful and meaningful gesture
Choosing somewhere special
There are a lot of options here. You could go to the place you went on your first date, or a place you both love to visit. Is there a walk near by that you’ve taken many times? Have you got pictures of the pair of you in spring, summer and autumn waiting for you to complete the set and have a snowy version?
For a next-level suggestion, maybe you have a photo of her parents after they got engaged that you can recreate. Or is there a place that’s important to her family or yours?
Your own home can be very much somewhere special – and you can make more of an occasion by weaving your proposal into existing celebrations, such as the anniversary of you starting to date, Bonfire Night, Christmas, New Year, Valentine’s Day, Hanukkah, or whatever you celebrate. Engagement rings as Christmas gifts, stroke-of-midnight-at-New-Year proposals, these are all tried and true ways of popping the question. Classics for a reason.
Making somewhere special
If you’re going to invent a new special place that will be ‘the place where we got engaged’ for the rest of your lives, then you need to consider a few very pragmatic things.
Do you want to be able to revisit that place, or is this a once in a lifetime adventure? And what is the budget?
If you’re going big, then there are some truly fabulous options:
Paris for the weekend.
A trip to see the Northern Lights.
Ice-skating on a frozen lake in Sweden (yes, it’s a thing).
Christmas shopping in New York.
A surprise skiing holiday.
A city break to Reykjavik.
Apply your Google-fu to beautiful Christmas lights displays, or the most extravagant New Year fireworks.
Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Frankfurt and Vienna are supposed to have gorgeous lights, while the organisers of the fireworks in London and Sydney seem to be competing for some kind of prize!
The Northern Lights is a very poignant place for a winter engagement proposal
Smaller budget, and a repeatable trip
You could go somewhere in the UK where there is more chance of snow than here in Cornwall. You may live there already, of course, but Scotland, the Lake District, Dartmoor, Snowdonia and their high-altitude cousins are more likely to provide a pristine white backdrop for happy engagement pics.
If you do your research, on a frosty morning or a snowy afternoon there’s bound to be somewhere you can get to that turns into a winter wonderland – think castles, frozen lakes or waterfalls, frost on the ground, silhouettes of trees and twinkling lights…
Winter engagements are magical and full of wonder
The other details
Good backdrops for winter engagement proposals are things which are special to the season – Christmas trees and ornaments, roaring log fires, snow (they are promising snow this winter, I do believe), mistletoe – again, there’s a lot to choose from. Just be careful that your precious ring doesn’t end up in the pocket of the trousers that you now can’t get at under your big winter coat, or becomes lost amidst the tinsel. You wouldn’t be the first, but the story will go with you for the whole of your married life!
Consider also who else you get involved. You may need an accomplice, or you may want to involve your children, if you have any. There may be hordes of relatives around to avoid or include – but don’t get pressured into a public proposal if your girl is super-shy. You have to choose what suits you both best.
So whether you decide to go elaborate, or keep it simple, the most important thing is that you’re both happy. We wish you all the best with your winter engagement proposals – let us know how it went!
