Well, it seems we are not alone. Proposal planner Michele Willamson has written an article for Huffpo defending her profession. It seems to Wiliamson that we just don’t understand her calling. If only we understood, we would change our minds and appreciate her services, even if we didn’t use them ourselves.

She answers some questions about her job… but frankly I find that her answers don’t actually make me think her business any more useful than I found it before. After all, she says she plans intimate, personal proposals as well as huge, flashy ones. But if it’s intimate and personal, why does the gentleman (and she does divide the world into ‘men’ and ‘females’ which is a nasty habit more and more people seem to be falling into) require someone to tell him what would be intimate and personal for him and his lady? Or gentleman? And the fact that Williamson says she is present for most of these proposals frankly kind of skeeves me out.

She says that she does a lot of research by talking to the man about his relationship with his female… oops, I mean his significant other. She prompts him to remember things and consider questions that may not have occurred to him. But has this gentleman no friends? No family members he might consult? Has he no skills to discover for himself what his love finds romantic? Is it never possible for a woman to propose???

After all, the best way to make the proposal romantic is to consider carefully the tastes and personality of the person being proposed to, as well as the history and structure of the overall relationship. If, for instance, a man knows that his lady always sighs happily at movies when an engagement ring is discovered in a glass of champagne, he knows she’ll find that romantic. If she laughs her head off and talks about wasting a perfectly good glass of champagne, chances are that’s not the way to propose. If the moment just seems right while lying in bed on a lazy sunday morning… then why not take the chance? Only if you know she wants the down on one knee approach and for you to ask her parents for permission to marry her.

There is no such thing as a universally romantic proposal. And unless you’re trying to arrange the practicalities of a Jumbotron, a marching band, and a host of celebrities showing up to urge your beloved to say yes… chances are you can work it out on your own. And even then? Yeah, guys have been working out the Jumbotron thing at sporting events for decades all by themselves.

Sorry, Michele, but I still don’t see a need for your service. And while I will refrain from personal abuse, I laugh soundly at what you’ve chosen to do with your life and the people who think they need it.

we’re the go-to source for men who want to create the perfect proposal. Not only do we know what girls want in their proposal, we know exactly what will knock their stilettos off.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I would have wanted Mr. Twistie to go to a pro to figure out how to create some spectacular EVENT of a proposal. I like the fact that he chose the time and place on his own and said his own words.

There are a lot of people who wouldn’t have found Mr. Twistie’s proposal all that romantic. The setting wasn’t spectacular. In fact it was a family-style restaurant that still happened to be open when we got out of the theater ravenously hungry. The words weren’t poetic. In fact, it took me a while to get him to say enough words to figure out what he was trying to say.

But it was him and it him telling me in his own way that he’d thought hard about pleasing me.

To me, that was perfect. I didn’t need bells and whistles and hot air balloons. All I needed was for him to let me know that I come first with him.

And that doesn’t cost money.

Especially fun, I think, because Caitlin answered Jeff’s graffiti marriage proposal in the affirmative. Always nice to have a happy ending! Now, who hasn’t chimed in before and wants to share their proposal stories?

The bride-elect was offered a 100% discount on the deal, but of course there’s some fine print:

Nontransferable. Groupon entitled to no less than 15% of your marital bliss. Either party may develop a snoring problem. One or both participants will not always look like a 20-year-old. Good luck, you kids.

The lady said yes. I wish them both all happiness.

On the less successful end of the imaginative proposal scale, we find Anna Perez of Chicago who chose the truly unique tack of calling 911 as her boyfriend was trying to break up with her in hopes that the police would convince him to marry her instead.

The gentleman was not amused. Neither were the police. Perez remains single.

If you’re familiar with Munchkin, this is one way to use the ‘Make your own card’ card that comes with the game. I’d put this right up there with other nerdy proposals we’ve featured here at Manolo for the Brides, like the Chrono Trigger hack and the Twitter proposal. The nerdy proposal may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if it works for you, then it works for you!

Was your proposal a nerdy one?

The nice folks at Slipoffs will put pretty much anything you want on a pair of Vans or any other canvas shoe. They’ll even work with you to create a design if you’re planning to propose via sneaker and the right words just won’t spring to mind or you want to make, let’s say, a set of bride-to-be and groom-to-be Chucks.

Jerram made an equally fascinating engagement ring for his wife, which you can read about here. I’m like Jerram’s other works, too – particularly all of the neat gifts he’s made for people!

The comments in the previous tattoo proposal make it pretty clear that the majority of Manolo for the Brides readers aren’t fans of ink, at least where proposals of marriage are concerned. But as luck would have it, Joe’s beloved felt differently – good thing, too, since he inked in her reply after popping the question.

“He scored some points for putting my name on him for sure,” says Joe’s fiancee, Rachel Streeter.

Lots of luck to them!

On a wholly different note, what do you all think of this essay pleading with women not to propose to their men… because it will give the friends of those men ammunition with which to crack jokes. Um, what? When I ran that by The Beard, his response was “If your friends kidding around with you is all it takes to erode your dignity, you obviously didn’t have much to begin with.” My take? I’m pretty sure the author is in no danger of getting proposed to any time soon. And friends make fun of friends for everything, jocularly. Are guys supposed to let the fear of joshing rule our lives?

Apparently he had the tattoo done the morning he proposed, and the folks at the tattoo tried their best to talk him out of it, but his mind was made up. But he was sure that she’d say yes, which of course she did since the news made the rounds. (Though imagine how humiliating it would have been if she’d said no and the news had *still* made the rounds!) I can’t decide whether this is tres sweet or tres tacky — on one hand, his tattoo will be a constant reminder of the day he proposed, yet on the other hand, that tattoo is someday going to be all faded and weird looking. What do you think?

The video illustrates how Childress used light writing to create his proposal, and a slightly more detailed breakdown of the project can be found on his and his fiancee’s web site. Talk about putting some effort into your proposal! I’d say it’s on par with the Muir Owl proposal, enlisting the help of Neil Gaiman, and hacking a video game to pop the question.