Singaporebrides | Editors' Notes

November 2020

14 of Our All-Time Favourite Proposals From Real-Life Couples in Singapore

Here are some of our favourite proposals from couples whom we’ve interviewed over the last two years.

Let’s be honest – nothing makes you go ‘aww’ or squeal in girlish delight than hearing about sweet, romantic proposals, regardless of your age, gender and marital status. And if you’ve been tuning in to our Real Weddings diligently, you’ll come across some really epic, memorable or romantic proposal stories that had you grinning like a silly child or shedding a tear or two – or, in some cases, glaring at your fiancé and wishing that he had thought of a proposal like that too (grooms, don’t say we didn’t warn you!).

Whether you’re one to enjoy reading proposal stories of other couples or a groom-to-be looking for ideas for an unforgettable proposal, you’ll enjoy these 14 romantic and memorable proposal stories from real life couples we’ve featured on SingaporeBrides.

Colette and Jimmy’s Surprise Proposal Over New Year’s Eve Fireworks

Photography by France Paris Bridal

When Colette made plans to return to Kuala Lumpur to spend New Year’s Eve with her parents, Jimmy seized the opportunity to surprise her with a romantic proposal at midnight with fireworks in the sky as the world rang in the new year. Coincidentally, New Year’s Day was also Colette’s parents’ wedding anniversary! Together with her mum, Jimmy made plans for the special day as he secretly flew in and waited for the perfect moment to surprise her. Tell me, doesn’t this make you go ‘awww’?

Jimmy: I told Colette I had a lunch appointment with a client, so that she would not suspect if I didn’t reply her messages. Little did she know, I was already on the plane. I stopped by to pick up the bouquet at Midvalley after leaving the airport. I was worried my plan was exposed or that Colette would happen to see me while I was out.

I reached their place at 11.45pm and waited outside while everyone was at the balcony waiting for the fireworks. At midnight when the fireworks were lit, I went in and popped the question. The fireworks did help with the moment, although they were just a little loud.

Shiyan and Sean’s Seemingly Romantic Proposal in Provence

Photography by Lightedpixels Photography

Shiyan’s romantic proposal in the beautiful lavender fields of Provence is what every girl dreams of – except for the ants and bees that were climbing up her fiancé’s body as he knelt down on one knee to pop the question!

Shiyan: It was romantic but not like what it seemed. Sean proposed to me in the lavender fields of Provence, in the south of France. Prior to the south of France, we were in Ibiza with friends, so I had never suspected that we were on a “proposal trip”. That day in Provence, Sean stopped by a lavender field on the pretext of taking some shots with the camera tripod that he had set up. As he ran over to join me in the picture, I saw him reach into his pocket and go down on his knee. He gave a speech that made me cry, and then I saw many ants and bees starting to make their way up his body as he was on his knee. A tad freaked out from the bugs, I said yes quickly and yelled at him to get up!

Letty and Benjamin’s Fairytale Proposal At The Real Life Disney Castle

Photography by Super Panda Presents

Captivated by the ethereal beauty of the famous ‘Disney Castle’, Benjamin was set on proposing to the love of his life at the Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany. When the opportunity to be in Germany swung by, he seized it and lured her to her fairytale proposal one step at a time.

Benjamin: I was supposed to attend a whisky fair in Germany; so I thought I could take this opportunity to propose to her, since I had always wanted to propose at the famous “Disney Castle,” i.e., Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria. First, I tricked her into joining me for the whisky fair in Germany, and I told her we could explore other parts of Germany. She agreed and went online to research the cities in Germany she would like to visit; I told her to include the castle as well. After much research, she found a tour guide in Garmisch-Partenkirchen who could show us around Neuschwanstein Castle as well as Zugspitze. I took this opportunity to liaise with the tour guide, and got them to help me create a memorable proposal with Neuschwanstein Castle as the backdrop.

Hanan and Adzfar’s ‘Lost and Found’ Proposal at The Airport

Photography by Fokus

On their flight home to Singapore, Adzfar tricked Hanan into thinking that he had left the paper bag containing her precious shoes on board the flight and pretended to ask for the airline’s staff’s help in retrieving the item. In reality, he had ganged up with her friends and the airline staff to give Hanan an unforgettable proposal that showed just how much he loved and treasured her.

Adzfar: The plan was to pretend I had left all her shoes on the plane, rush to the airline counter to ask them to hold the plane to retrieve them, and then to have the airline staff produce the white paper bag and hand it to us at the counter. Hanan would then look through the bag and find out that it’s full of the items I had saved over the five years, and her friends would appear from behind us and hold the banner up while I get down on one knee and propose with the ring that I had hidden in my pocket.

Casuarina and Douglas’s Dream Proposal at The Eiffel Tower

Photography by Chris Ling International Photographers

Douglas made up his mind to propose to his love in the world’s most romantic city when he was sent to Europe for work. He casually suggested they go for a photoshoot in Paris and engaged a photographer to capture that unforgettable moment he went down on one knee and popped the most important question of his life, in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Douglas: I told the photographer that I was going to propose to her during the shoot, and everything was kept a secret from her. He captured so many beautiful photos of us, including one of the most important and special moments of my life. I went down on one knee, and before I could even ask her, she said yes!

Read more about Douglas and Casuarina’s story and wedding!

Emily and Jun He’s Romantic Sunset Proposal in Italy

Photography by Synchronal Photography

Emily’s romantic sunset proposal in Italy was unforgettable, but not for the reason one would think. If you asked Jun He and her what they remembered the most of the proposal, it would be the fact that they got so seasick that the couldn’t properly celebrate their engagement, and not the romantic sunset or the planned, sweet surprise!

Jun He: The proposal was really memorable as I arranged for a live acoustic band and photographers to join us for the trip. Like Emily mentioned, they played the part and posed quite realistically as fellow travellers. In the end, the yacht captain gave the cue and I proposed just before the sun set in Barcelona. What we remember for the rest of the proposal was… We got super seasick and couldn’t really join the rest of them in celebrating the occasion!

Rachel and Anders’s Surprise Proposal Shoot

Photography by Bridelope Productions

Together with her agency and friends, Anders tricked Rachel into thinking that the set-up for her surprise proposal was a job she was engaged for. They were so detailed that Rachel did not suspect anything until she recognised a friend on set after 20 minutes of shooting!

Rachel: The proposal was extremely well-planned, I have to say. I had no clue what was about to happen. So, Faces told me that I was booked for a shoot with Sofitel, along with two of my friends from Faces. This shoot was set to happen on one of my filming dates, where I would wrap by noon and then rush off to Sofitel for my “second shoot”. I actually did go through the shoot for a good 20 minutes until one of the scenes where I had to be blindfolded and brought out to the garden where the blindfold will be removed. We rehearsed this scene once, and then the “client” made some comments and changes and we were told to shoot this scene one more time.

This time round, when the blindfold was taken off, I suddenly noticed that there were a lot of people in the background. Initially, I thought they were part of the “client side” and I made a mental note to not break out of character or get distracted so that I won’t spoil the shot. But then I made eye contact with someone and I realised, it was a friend! I looked around and realised that I knew everyone there. My sister was there, and so were a lot of my friends from university and Faces! I hadn’t noticed Anders until then, and that was when it hit me. So I turned and I saw him standing there holding a bouquet of flowers, at the end of the carpet that was laid out, with a floral arch behind him. It was funny how he was the last person I saw in this whole scene.

Janice and Glenn’s Secret Proposal in Cappadocia

Photography by Kursat Acar

The minute Glenn saw a picture of hot air balloons at the Sultan Cave Suites, he was determined to propose to the love of his life in Cappadocia. So, he started planning for it by hiring a photographer and videographer who posed as a hotel staff who took photos of them, and secretly flew in her parents and compiled a video of her friends’ wishes so they could be part of her proposal. So, it’s no wonder Janice said ‘yes!’.

Glenn: I was googling “Wedding Proposal Ideas” and a picture of hot air balloons at Sultan Cave Suites came up. It was so captivating that I knew that was it. On that early morning, the hotel had our private balcony set up with breakfast. She thought we were watching the hot air balloons and the photographer-videographer I had hired pretended to be the hotel staff and took pictures of her (she thought it was for their hotel’s Instagram post) while I sneaked off to get prepared. I came back with the video of her friends and the ring was flown into the balcony by a drone. That’s when her parents made the surprise entry, I got down on my knees, and she said yes!

Geraldine and Kenny’s Pinterest-Worthy White and Green Wedding at The Chapel @ Imaginarium

Photography by Andri Tei Photography

There is no way Geraldine will ever forget the day she was proposed to, especially not after she almost jumped into a river in Austria to retrieve her proposal ring after Kenny duped her into thinking that he had dropped it into the water!

Geraldine: While walking towards me, he pretended to trip and throw ring into the river. I panicked and thought this is going on Stomp for sure. After a good five minutes of me wanting to jump into the river (the water is not deep), he calmed me down by pulling out the actual ring from his pocket. As it turned out, the ring he threw into the river as a $5 ring he bought from Lucky Plaza. He then popped the question on one knee, and I said yes.

Gail and Jeremy’s Korean-Inspired Wedding at Singapore Marriott Tang Plaza

Photography by Acapella Photography

Gail and Jeremy’s proposal is the stuff Korean dramas are made of. Since they met on exchange in Korea, Jeremy seized the opportunity to propose to the love of his life at the place where they first met when they returned to Seoul for a holiday. He arranged for a group of students to present her with flowers before she was led to a quiet corner where he was waiting to pop the question. Needless to say, she said ‘yes’ after Jeremy’s romantic gesture.

Gail: Jeremy sent a steady stream of SNU students to present flowers to me, one by one. I was dumbfounded and wondering what the heck was going on, until some of them gave it away when they said “축하해!” which means, “Congratulations!”. About 20 students later, the last girl arrived with a single red rose in her hand (which was really special because the previous flowers were all other colours and types but never red) and asked me, “Do you know this guy?” I looked closely at the rose, and on its wrapper was a photo of 2014 Jeremy, standing at a vine-covered walkway somewhere in school. I looked at her and said that I did. She smiled at me and said, “Alright, let’s go to where he is standing in the picture.”

So we walked all the way to the walkway at a quiet part of the school, and there was Jem, waiting right at the end of it, smiling and holding a big bouquet of flowers. It was so romantic, everything I’d dreamed for a proposal.

Jiamin and Darren’s Impromptu At-Home Proposal

Photography by The Beautiful Moment

Sometimes, the unplanned, impromptu proposal is the sweetest and most memorable. For Jia Min and Darren, their proposal story started with an innocuous conversation about a wedding and ended up with an informal proposal in the middle of their conversation.

Jia Min: We were texting each other randomly about the possibility of a wedding without actually having a proposal yet. Then suddenly, it got quite serious as we started discussing dates and stuff. So I asked him, “Is this you asking? ‘Cause if it is, I will say ‘Yes’.” And he said “OMG” or something, and then we were both like, “Oh okay, so that’s it. HAHAHA.”

Stephanie and Li Ming’s Rustic Wanderlust Styled Pre-Wedding Shoot in Coney Island

Photography by Bridelope Productions

Stephanie may or may not have thought about how Li Ming was going to propose to her, but never in her wildest dreams did she imagine him to propose to her right after she answered the call of nature in the middle of nowhere. In fact, she even thought it was a joke!

Li Ming: When we were in the Netherlands, we visited the Weerribben-Wieden National Park, and I was stunned by the beauty of the landscape and how it was so untouched by tourists. I decided to make my move there, but I had to find the perfect backdrop and opportunity. Towards the second leg of our kayak through the canals, we took a short break on a nice little rest spot, engulfed by nature on all sides. The only way to get to that spot is via a canoe, so we were definitely enjoying lots of privacy there.

Steph excused her to answer the call of nature, and I KNEW that was my chance. I sat and waited for her return, with the ring in my trembling hands and fading speech in my head. Alas, when she returned and I went on my knees, my mind completely went blank. Instead of the speech I had prepared, I said, “I’m sorry, I forgot everything that I wanted to say. Will you marry me?” Steph thought it was a joke! She couldn’t believe it until I started to cry. Thank god there was no one else there to see it.

Melisa and Brice’s Surprise Proposal in Australia

Photography by Androidsinboots

Melisa was surprised in more than one way for her proposal – the first, was that she had to evacuate her building because there was a fire, and the second – and also the most important surprise – was seeing Brice on one knee with a ring when she opened her door to evacuate!

Brice: It was months in the making. While she was in Adelaide studying, I had to find ways to get ahold of her ring size and organise the proposal. A challenging feat keeping it covert since we communicate so frequently! Eventually, to cover for the seven-hour surprise flight to Adelaide I had to make, I got my Dad to tell Melisa I was going to visit him in Vietnam instead (giving her a different flight number departing at a similar time) and, to buy myself some time, that I had phone problems once I arrived. The moment I touched down in Adelaide, I rushed to her apartment, told her housemate to say something to get her out of her room, and you’ve heard the rest!

Aileen and Christian’s Magnificent Wedding at JW Marriott Surabaya

Photography by All Seasons Photography

Aileen was quietly enjoying an afternoon with friends when she witnessed a proposal followed by a flashmob. As she would soon find out, the proposal was staged and the flashmob was actually meant for her proposal!

Aileen: I was out on a Sunday afternoon with my friends at an alfresco restaurant when we witnessed another couple’s proposal at a nearby table. A flashmob began right after that, and dancers pretending to be patrons suddenly stood up to join the dance. Chris then popped out of nowhere with 99 roses, went down on one knee, and asked me to marry him. At that time, we were already in the midst of wedding arrangements and had already set a wedding date. I didn’t think that he was the romantic kind that would pull off and plan a surprise proposal when he was in another country.

Read more about Aileen and Christian’s story and wedding!

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Published on: 2 November 2020

Category: Editors' Notes, Inspirations, Real Weddings

Tagged in: Wedding proposals