A friend of mine tells me that a girl he works with was recently proposed to while holidaying in Venice.
Her boyfriend got down on one knee in a gondola. His female colleagues gathered gleefully around her mobile phone to gush at the low-res pics of rings and smiles, glowing there in her hand.
He thinks surely we men can do better than this.

I worked with a girl who was whisked off to the Grand Canyon by her boyfriend, just so he could propose at the great maw.
On their return, the girl now with ring, the female members of staff were saying how romantic and beautiful it was. I thought that it was slightly ridiculous, unimaginitive and definitely not romantic.
I remember saying that it showed that he probably didn't know anything about this girl and had probably picked out the Grand Canyon as a spot he would ask any girl to marry him, in order to tick the requisite boxes. This comment didn't go down too well.
Maybe I was wrong, though? Maybe the guy knew the Canyon was his girl's dream destination? Or then again, maybe he knew she was easily impressed with extravagant shows of wealth and cod romanticism, so all he had to do was decide on the location (Venice? Paris? Grand Canyon?) and the ring (massive rock, obviously expensive).
Then you come home and basically try and show off the experience to everyone else. It's a poor way to start a life together, a sham perhaps.
To me the most romantic gesture would be to show that you know exactly what the woman wants from a proposal. Make it heartfelt and real. Somewhere warm and intimate, probably somewhere special to the two of you alone. Not at a gorge that probably has a gift shop that sells wedding rings.
So if you think that the woman wants you to fly her half way around the world before you should bother proposing then you probably shouldn't propose to her at all. Unless you're as shallow as she is.

• Post to:
•  del.icio.us
•  Digg
•  Newsvine
•  Nowpublic
•  Reddit