Harold B. Lee Library

Failed Attempts at Romance

The Engagement Ring: How and Why It Is Given (FA 01 215)

One guy put the ring in a rolled up poster. When his girlfriend opened it, it fell to the floor. His inquiry was still successful, but the romance was a bit dead.

When his dear one fell asleep while they were talking, one guy took the opportunity to put the ring on her finger. When she woke up, he waited for her to notice. It took an embarrassingly long time.

One guy proposed in the middle of ward talent night by interrupting his girlfriend’s skit.

A cannery worker put an engagement ring into a can of peaches and brought them to a ward picnic. He asked his dear one if she might like some peaches, and scooped the ring onto her plate. It is unclear if she cleaned the ring before putting it on her finger.

Putting the ring in a glass of water just makes embarrassment for everyone. Don’t do it.

One man put the ring inside a flower and left it on her desk, intending for his young lady to find it when she smelled the flower. She never found it, and eventually threw the rotting flowers out. The young man was forced to dumpster dive to save his investment.

A less discrete couple were kissing on the ‘diamond deck’ of a restaurant. Before he took her there, the young man had place the ring in his mouth so that he could give it to her while they were kissing.

Engagement Stories (FA 01 977)

While all stories that involve putting an engagement ring in some kind of food are naturally un-romantic, the worst case scenarios are those where the young lady doesn’t succeed at finding the ring. In one such story, the young man had placed the ring in the bottom of his future wife’s milk shake which she then refused to finish. She threw the excess out the car window in a remarkable display of apathy towards anti-litter laws. The couple had to stop the car and go search for the ring along the side of the road.

Mormon Engagement Stories (FA 01 1498)

One man put the ring in his pocket too soon, and when he went through a metal detector at a museum the couple had decided to visit, it went off and he had to pull the ring out in front of her.  The moment could have been salvaged if he’d proposed right then, but instead he chose to put the ring back in his pocket and wait until later.

The Elements of Engagement Stories (FA 01 1880)

One young man was so nervous about the proposal that he put the ring on the wrong hand. His fiancé made him take it off and put it on the correct hand.

Will You Marry Me?  Engagement Traditions of the Mormons (FA 01 1920)

One guy wanted to propose just before midnight on New Year’s Eve, so he could say she took a year to get back to him. He fell asleep as midnight approached though, so he ended up asking her at 12:15 instead.

Marry Me!  Oh, Marry Me!:  Mormon Engagement Proposals (FA 01 2263)

In an act of supreme class, one clever gent taped an engagement ring to a package of life savers and relied on pun “thanks for ‘saving’ my ‘life’” to get the message across.

A romantic fellow kidnapped his girlfriend and took her to dinner on a highway median. As cars passed, clogging the atmosphere with noise and pollution, he proposed.

How We Met: The Folklore of Mormon Engagement (FA 01 2331)

A sports fan arranged a banner at a baseball game to ask his girlfriend to marry him. She was really embarrassed, but was urged by the crowd to accept.