{"id":2522,"date":"2015-05-07T01:16:39","date_gmt":"2015-05-07T01:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pearlsonly.ca\/blog\/?p=2522"},"modified":"2025-05-15T00:25:39","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T06:25:39","slug":"marriage-proposals-around-the-world-traditions-and-trends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pearlsonly.ca\/blog\/marriage-proposals-around-the-world-traditions-and-trends\/","title":{"rendered":"Marriage Proposals Around the World: Traditions and Trends"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the 1800\u2019s, a gentleman who desired to propose to a lady sent her a pair of gloves signifying his intentions. Then he had to wait until the following Sunday to see if the lady wore these gloves to church. If she did, the proposal was considered to be accepted and further arrangements could be made.<\/p>\n

In Wales, the gloves were substituted with a wooden spoon carved by a man looking to propose. If his loved one accepted the wedding proposal (and liked the spoon), she showed it by wearing the piece of cutlery on a ribbon around her neck.<\/p>\n

Yeah, things were pretty simple back then. But we\u2019ve come a long way from there, haven’t we?<\/p>\n

The wedding proposal is sometimes a more public occasion nowadays (more on that later), but it still usually involves a man (or a woman) getting down on one knee and presenting their loved one with a ring.<\/p>\n

While this may seem natural to most of us, this culture of proposing is not universal at all. This post will look into some less familiar wedding proposals from around the world.<\/p>\n

Wedding Proposal Customs Around the World<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s take Ghana for example. In this country, an age-old African tradition of a \u201cknock on the door\u201d is still alive nowadays. It\u2019s not the hopeful groom-to-be who does the knocking however. Instead, his mother and uncle visit the future bride\u2019s family to ask for her hand on his behalf.<\/p>\n

In China, families are also involved in the marriage proposal. Although they don\u2019t decide who you have to marry, a blessing from both families is still pretty much obligatory for the engagement to take place.<\/p>\n

The \u201cspeak now or forever hold your peace\u201d part is taken care of way before the wedding, possibly preventing awkward situations later on.<\/p>\n

Traditionally it was often the future groom or his family doing the majority of the legwork associated with a proposal.<\/p>\n

Though this is not necessarily so in many Western countries anymore: women proposing to men is on the up.<\/p>\n

In Scotland and Ireland, February 29th<\/a> has traditionally been the only day in the year (well, every four years to be precise) when a woman could propose to a man. In case the proposal was rejected, the man was expected to provide the woman with enough cloth for a new skirt.<\/p>\n

So things were the same for quite some time: a man would propose to a woman when they\u2019re alone or in a close circle of their family and friends. But for some this seems to be changing in the age of Internet, as public proposals are becoming more frequent.<\/p>\n

You may also want to take a look at different gift giving customs and etiquette from around the world<\/a>.<\/p>\n

5 Public Marriage Proposals That Will Shock You<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Nowadays, we have smartphones with high quality cameras and YouTube, many public proposals\u00a0are filmed on purpose, while others are captured by random passers-by, so even the most romantic private proposal can become public in a matter of minutes.<\/p>\n

So what are some of the most romantic, unusual, wacky, interesting, and exciting marriage proposals ever?<\/p>\n

There are plenty of different ways that the hopeful groom-to-be can choose to ask for his loved one\u2019s hand.\u00a0Here is a variety of the most creative wedding proposals that YouTube has to offer:<\/p>\n

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  1. \n

    The Plane Malfunction Proposal<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Scaring your girlfriend might not seem like the best way to propose, but this pilot managed to do just that. The couple were flying together in a small plane when the guy asked his soon-to-be fianc\u00e9e to stay calm. He told her that the flight controls weren\u2019t responding and he needed her to read through the emergency procedure.<\/p>\n

    Instead of actual guidance on landing the plane, the girlfriend found an instruction to initiate the \u201cring engagement procedure\u201d. After a few more clever lines, the manual read \u201cWill you marry me?\u201d Brilliant, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

    The Hidden Choir Proposal<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    Most flash mob marriage proposals involve a lot of people who are singing and dancing, so they turn out to be rather cheesy. That can\u2019t be said about this one<\/a> however, as the way this member of a university\u2019s choir proposed to his girlfriend turned out to be quite\u00a0subtle and romantic.<\/p>\n

    The proposal included a hand-made wooden Scrabble board used to spell out the question and a hidden choir that started singing a beautiful song from their repertoire just as the future groom got down on one\u00a0knee.<\/p>\n

    The Year-long Proposal<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    Some proposals need more planning than others. The guy in the video below wrote down the<\/em> question on a sheet of paper every day for an entire year and assembled the short clips he filmed into a video he showed to his girlfriend on her birthday.<\/p>\n

    The actual proposal took place on a beach in Aruba and the girlfriend\u2019s family were all there to witness the occasion.<\/p>\n

    The Traveller\u2019s Proposal<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    The other video-proposal in my list took even longer to create. According to the future groom, he knew he wanted to marry his girlfriend right after their first date, so he came up with a short clip of him singing \u201c500 Miles\u201d by The Proclaimers while visiting 26 countries all around the world.<\/p>\n

    No words can really show the boyfriend\u2019s commitment as well as this video. After all, it did take him four years to make.<\/p>\n

    The Movie Trailer Proposal<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    If you end up filming a video for your proposal, why not show it on a big screen?<\/p>\n

    “Because I am shy and the last thing I want to do is to share my personal life with the whole world” you cry….ahh come on.<\/p>\n

    The guy in the video below did exactly that. He captured the moment he\u2019s asking for his girlfriend\u2019s father for permission and his trip to the cinema where the girlfriend was set to watch a movie. The result was then shown as a trailer, followed by a live proposal.<\/p>\n

    Sure, some of these might seem a little over-the-top, but we\u2019d like to think that the groom-to-be is the one who knows his girlfriend best and judged accordingly.<\/p>\n

    But as all ladies know, men occasionally (only occasionally) read them wrong.<\/p>\n

    Either way, the proposal is rarely a straightforward process. In fact, there are plenty of things that men and women see differently.<\/p>\n

    We picked some of the more interesting common misconceptions we could find and listed them below.<\/p>\n

    Common Proposal Misconceptions<\/strong><\/h2>\n