A marriage proposal occurs when one partner in a relationship asks the other for his or her hand in marriage. If accepted, it starts the engagement process, which is a mutual agreement to marry later. It frequently has a ritualistic feel to it. In some Western cultures, it is customary for a man to make a direct proposal to a woman while genuflecting in her presence. The formal question “Will you marry me,…?” and the presenting of an engagement ring are frequently part of the ritual. It’s possible he’ll put the ring on her finger. Christian couples may receive the optional Rite of Betrothal (also known as “blessing an engaged couple”) to have their engagement blessed and approved by the Church. In 2021, wedding stories from throughout the world continued to flood The New York Times’ Weddings pages, demonstrating that no force of nature, not even a pandemic, could overcome the power of love.
But there were proposals before those marriages. In South Africa, one man had his fiancée’s ring delivered by a lion cub. A missed sunset on a rooftop in Phuket, Thailand, led to an even more memorable moment for a couple on holiday. The shortest proposal on this list took place aboard a plane high above the Atlantic Ocean, while the longest lasted more than a year as one nonagenarian tried to persuade another to say yes.
