The Do's and Don'ts of Proposing Part Two: The Don'ts

In our last blog post we shared a list of some time-tested “best practices” we’ve discovered over the course of many years working with excited couples preparing to get engaged. While we recommend you read the blog post covering the “Dos” first (to get your creative juices flowing and expand your ideas of what your proposal event can be) we also want to provide you with this short list of things to avoid to help make sure you’re not stumbling into a landmine that you didn’t expect.

Don’ts Include:

1. Don’t buy from a jeweler that you don’t trust. Use your instincts on this one, but you can gather additional insight be reading their customer reviews online and double checking their reputation on impartial third party sites like the Better Business Bureau. Another good way to assess their credibility is by verifying that they belong to the leading jewelers associations that require members to commit to a code of ethics.
2. Don’t set a proposal date until you’ve purchased the diamond. There are a multitude of small details that could cause a delay in the delivery of your beloved’s ring and you don’t want to feel the pressure of trying to push everything forward into high gear when you’ve got a lot of other details you need to focus on.
3. Don’t give it to her on Christmas, Easter or her birthday. Post proposal surveys of brides reveal that these events have enough meaning and memory baked into them on their own and so you don’t want to diminish the impact of your proposal by embedding it into an already momentous holiday. Furthermore, if the ring is given on a holiday, it is considered a gift, not a token or symbolic of the engagement and does not have to be given back to the giver if the engagement is broken.
4. Don’t take her shopping for rings and then delay the proposal. That sort of timing gaffe has caused many a bride-to-be to second guess the intentions of her beloved and leave her feeling confused and insecure.
5. Don’t make her hunt for her engagement ring on an extended treasure hunt. While this type of event can be amazing for couples who love to solve puzzles together - many brides reveal after the fact that the stress of trying to put together the clues in the midst of all the emotions elicited by the moment distracted them from actually enjoying the proposal.
6. Don’t propose over the ocean (whether in a boat or on a pier) or in a hot air balloon because if you drop it - your proposal moment will be best remembered by the stress and panic that you feel. . . and those are not the memories that you’ll want associated with the start of your new life together.

So there you have it. A simple set of handy “Dos and Don’ts” to help you plan your own epic event, What helpful tips would you suggest we add to this list? Share them with us in the comments section below so your experience can help others make the most of their big moment. Or call us at 704.365.4400 or visit us in Morrocroft Village at 3900 Colony Road, Charlotte, NC between the hours of 10a and 6p (Mon-Fri) or 10a-4p on Saturdays. We are committed to helping every client create a personalized and memorable proposal experience that will become a unique story told from generation to generation.