Marriage proposal idea
The Third Stop
Drive to every place that mattered, in order, and ask at the last one.
- Cost
- $10-40
- Effort
- medium
- Best for
- the partner who gets quiet in a good way when something matters
The idea
Wait until after ten on a weeknight. Drive them to the parking lot where you first met up, then the block where one of you used to live, then whatever place you end up at when neither of you can decide. Do not get out of the car at any of them. Idle for a minute, then pull away.
They will work out what you are doing somewhere around the third stop. That gap, between the moment they know and the moment you say it, is the entire idea. You get a few quiet minutes in a dark car where you both already know, and neither of you has to perform.
The way this falls apart is narrating. If you explain each stop as you pull up, it turns into a tour and the air goes out of it. Say almost nothing. When they ask what you are doing, tell them they will see.
What to say
“You knew at the second one, didn't you. I rehearsed this at every red light between here and the last stop and it still isn't coming out right. I want all the rest of them with you, including the boring ones. Will you marry me?”
Say it slower than feels natural. The pause after it is the whole moment, so let it sit there.
What you'll need
- 💐gas for an hour of drivingFind it
- 💐a thermos of coffee made at homeFind it
- 🎉a short playlist queued before you pull outFind it
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Step by step
- 1Pick three or four places that afternoon and write the order down on your phone.
- 2Leave after ten on a night neither of you works in the morning.
- 3Idle for a minute at each stop and pull away without explaining.
- 4At the last stop, put the car in park and shut the engine off.
- 5Let it be quiet for a few seconds before you say anything.
- 6Ask, then stop talking and let them go first.
Plan the rest of it
Full Blueprint
Want the whole thing planned down to the minute?
The idea above is the shape of the day. The Blueprint is the rest of it, built around your person and the place you picked.
- A run of show with real times, from the morning until the toast
- The speech, written in your words, with the part to memorize marked
- A shot list for whoever is filming, so they know where to stand
- A supplies checklist with what to buy and when to buy it
- A rain plan, because outdoor asks lose to weather more than anything else
Building the plan is free. The Blueprint is $14.99, added to the plan once you have one you like.
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