Wedding proposals take a lot of careful thought and planning. You want it to be an unforgettable romantic moment, but at the same time you don't want to be so experimental that it all goes wrong and you're publically humiliated. Here are four famous on-screen marriage proposals that have made the world smile and cringe in equal measures. You may want to use them as inspiration for your own proposal...

Friends

But which Friends proposal? Is it Mike flying to Barbados to renounce his previous opinions on the marriage state? Is it the candlelit flat where Chandler finds a waiting Monica? Actually no. The proposal I have in mind here never actually takes place. In an episode where Ross and Rachel pretend to be married, Ross explains how he 'proposed', which is in reality how he had planned to propose to Rachel when they were dating...

He would have taken her to the deserted planetarium of his museum, with their favourite music playing and 'will you marry me?' written in the stars. Whether you met through friends or on a dating site, this would be a pretty hard offer for anyone to refuse. Getting exclusive access to a planetarium might be difficult, though!

Love Actually

Although there's a lot of love in Love Actually, there's only one actual on-screen marriage proposal. Colin Firth seems to be typecast to deliver deeply moving proposals. From the famous lines as Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, he becomes Jamie in Portugal, where he can finally climb over the language barrier and communicate his feelings in poorly learnt Portuguese. With a crowd of onlookers, he enters Aurelia's restaurant, where she works as a waitress. He then stumbles through his proposal from the bottom of the stairs. You will need a communication problem and a room full of people to pull this one off!

Sense and Sensibility

Emma Thompson made movie history by not only writing this very entertaining adaptation of the Austen classic but also starring in it. Edward's proposal to Eleanor is so inherently romantic because it comes after a huge misunderstanding. When she finds him to be a free man, rather than married as she thought, she lets out a huge outburst of emotion and bursts into tears. The inevitable proposal then takes place amid tears and through the spying skills of Marianne, Eleanor's younger sister. To make this one work, you'll have to organise a huge misunderstanding first and then swoop in with a proposal when hope is nearly lost.

The Wedding Singer

Adam Sandler's most original and, in my opinion, best movie contains an unforgettably romantic proposal. Having followed her on to a plane, Robbie must stop Julia marrying the wrong man. You don't need a personality test to work out that these two are compatible and chauvinistic Glenn is just in their way! He sings her a proposal song of his own composition first over the intercom and then in person. You will need a full plane, fantastic song-writing skills and another misunderstanding to orchestrate this one.

Let these great movie moments inspire you to romantic and original proposal ideas!

Steve Davis
©2011

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