11 of our favourite real wedding proposal stories

One day, Arj said to me, “Let’s go on a trip—pick any city!” Without knowing this was for a proposal, I unknowingly chose the city of love. He told me we were going to an upmarket restaurant (to justify getting dressed up), and off we went to Place Vendôme—though we now know there aren’t actually any restaurants there.In the centre of the square, I spotted a horse and carriage and asked Arj to quickly take a photo with it before the people it was meant for arrived. As he took the photos, a man in a top hat approached me and asked, “Are you Princess Eli? It seems you’ve lost your slipper.” He handed me a glass slipper (very Cinderella) with my name and shoe size engraved on it. That’s when I realised—the carriage was for us. Inside were my favourite macarons, champagne, and a bouquet of roses. We rode through Paris as the rain made the city glisten. We later stopped at the River Seine and boarded the most adorable wooden boat, set up with a full three-course meal. Seeing Paris from the river was unforgettable. Under the infamous bridge of love, the skipper suggested photos on the bow. I nearly declined because it was wet, but Arj convinced me. Suddenly, roses began raining down—thousands of them—thrown by people standing on the bridge, umbrella and all. That’s when I realised he was proposing. Arj had planned everything on my birthday so I wouldn’t be suspicious—and it worked. I thought he was being the sweetest boyfriend, but it turns out he was being the sweetest fiancé. One of our favourite memories, and one that still makes us smile ear to ear.

Eli

Tanna proposed in September 2022 while we were back in the US visiting my family. For my birthday, he surprised me with a romantic getaway to a stunning glamping spot in Joshua Tree—the desert near Palm Springs. After eight years together and no proposal, I’d honestly lost all hope of one ever happening, so I wasn’t expecting it at all. We were watching the sunset, playing Monopoly Deal in the most beautiful setting, and after losing multiple times (he was so off his game), he said, “I do have one more surprise for your birthday,” and pulled a box out of his pocket. I didn’t even give him time to ask the question—I was already jumping all over him and screaming like a madwoman. It was absolutely perfect.

Emma

We met at a bar called the Golden Sheaf, where I was working as a bartender. There were two proposals—three years ago, I proposed to Nick on a beach in Bali, and three months ago, Nick proposed to me by performing a song and dance at a restaurant.

Rian

We went ring shopping together and chose our matching rings, and were told it would take a few weeks for them to be made. Unbeknownst to Corey, I was able to pick them up early, which gave me time to secretly plan a proposal—and organise a photographer to capture the moment. For our anniversary, I planned to take him up to the lookout where I’d first asked him out. Unfortunately, it was raining, and Corey was being an absolute brat about it and refused to go. I quite literally had to force him into the car. When we arrived, the photographer walked up to me and asked if I was Ryan—at which point Corey immediately worked out what was happening. Talk about ruining the moment. After a brief panic, we made our way up to the lookout, where I finally popped the question. Thankfully, he said yes!

Ryan

We met through mutual friends. Matt proposed with the help of our dog, Barney, on our seventh anniversary. He completely caught me by surprise when I came home from work that day. I walked through the door and was greeted by Barney wearing a big pink bow—something I didn’t think much of at the time. He then led me into the living room, where Matt was standing with flowers. Again, I wasn’t suspicious, since it was our anniversary. It wasn’t until I noticed a card tucked into Barney’s collar that read, “Happy anniversary, Ash. Matt has something he would like to ask you…” When I looked up, Matt was down on one knee. He proposed with a beautiful sapphire and diamond ring that had been left to me by my late Nanna.

Ashlee

Ahmet and I are huge Disney fanatics and used to listen to Disney songs in the car on our trips to the beach. Early in our relationship, we were singing along to “Love Is an Open Door” from Frozen when the line, “Can I ask you something even crazier? Will you marry me?” came on. I jokingly said how funny it would be if he proposed to me with that song one day—already dreaming of marriage. Sure enough, one day he asked me to meet him at the beach we always went to so we could have some time alone. At sunset, I walked up to a tent set up on the sand, surrounded by candles and rose petals, with a sign that read “Will you marry me?” As the song began playing in the background, Ahmet got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.

Eliza

Three years after our first sunset walk from Bondi to Coogee, I asked Eden to marry me at the exact same spot—this time at sunrise. For the proposal, I told her we were going to a special group sunrise yoga session on the hill overlooking Coogee Beach to celebrate her birthday. To make it believable, I mentioned there would be a video crew filming the session, so she should look her best just in case we ended up on camera. I even packed our yoga mats and towels to really sell the story. On the morning of Sunday, 4 October 2021, we woke up bleary-eyed on a beautiful spring morning and headed off to Coogee. On the way, Eden asked if we could stop for a coffee, but I had to firmly say no—unbeknownst to her, my sister and a group of our closest friends were already setting up a glamorous picnic and teepee at our favourite spot. When we arrived, my nerves kicked in. I started sweating, nearly forgot the yoga mats, and was reminded by Eden that they were, in fact, essential. With friends and family hidden in the bushes, we finally made our way up the hill. Eden commented on how beautiful the picnic looked and wondered who it was for. When I said, “Happy birthday,” she laughed, thinking I was joking. The moment she realised it was for us, she was completely smitten and pulled out her phone to take a photo of the sun rising over the ocean. As she turned around to take the picture, I dropped down onto one knee and pulled out the ring. When she turned back and realised what was happening, everything else faded away—and the rest is history. One incredible detail I never planned for was a nearby 5am club doing a sunrise gathering. One of them happened to be a photographer and, without us knowing, captured every single moment of the proposal. Those photos now hang on the largest wall in our home, reminding us every day of that perfect morning and our love.

Josh

Glenn proposed just under two years after we first met, in the very place where we’d taken all those early walks while building our relationship. It was sunset, and I thought we were just heading out for dinner to celebrate my birthday. What I didn’t know was that a few days earlier, Glenn had scoped out a small jetty overlooking Perth’s CBD, usually used by seaplanes. At first, I genuinely thought he’d organised a seaplane for my birthday—which seemed a little extravagant for my 29th. Then, halfway down the jetty, I started to get suspicious. In very classic Alisha fashion, I blurted out, “Are you proposing?!”—very romantic of me. Glenn stayed cool and calm, brushing it off with stories about an incoming seaplane until we reached the end of the jetty. That’s when he got down on one knee and said some beautiful words—none of which I registered in the excitement of it all.

Alisha

Peter completely surprised me at his parents’ holiday house on Chelsea Beach in Victoria. We had organised a family lunch at the beach that day, and afterwards my sister-in-law suggested we head to Woolworths to get ice cream. She insisted on buying everything under the sun and took her sweet time—something I later realised was very intentional. When we finally got back and I walked up the stairs, I was stunned to see Peter standing on the balcony. A path of chocolate hearts led to him, surrounded by stunning red roses and photographs of the two of us. Dressed in a white shirt, he was waiting to drop to one knee and ask me to marry him.

Lana

After 11 years together, Anthony finally proposed! The night before, he called me and suggested we visit our old TAFE building, where we spent so much time together in the early days of our relationship. Anthony has always been a nostalgic guy, so I didn’t think much of it. We headed into the city and retraced our steps from Central Station all the way to Ultimo TAFE. Along the way, we reminisced about so many memories—how we used to jig and watch movies, and how Anthony thought me saying he looked like Joe Jonas was the greatest compliment I could ever give him. Eventually, we stopped in front of the building where we had our classes and continued talking about all the memories we shared there. Anthony turned to me and said, “Do you remember how I asked you to be my girlfriend?” I replied, “Yeah—you were drunk!” He smiled and said, “Well, I’m not drunk this time,” before getting down on one knee and asking me to marry him. Honestly, even after 11 years together, I was completely shocked. In the weeks leading up to the proposal, he’d casually start sentences with, “If we ever get married…” so I truly wasn’t expecting it at all. The proposal was romantic, sentimental, and thoughtful—it was so us.

Sylvia

Pat proposed at Taronga Zoo during Roar and Snore, celebrating our three-year anniversary. He said he wanted to go to the bird amphitheatre to take a photo, but I told him it wouldn’t be allowed since the keepers running the tour had said we couldn’t leave camp after dark. When we got back to camp, Pat went to ask a keeper anyway. I headed back to our tent, not wanting to be embarrassed when they inevitably said no—little did I know he’d been in cahoots with the zoo for this proposal for ages! To my surprise, Pat returned with the keeper, who said we could go and take a photo. As we walked toward the amphitheatre, the keepers casually mentioned they’d forgotten to feed “Mary” and left us alone to take our picture. It started raining on the walk, but nothing could ruin the moment when we reached the bottom of the theatre and Pat got down on one knee.

Jess

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