How was your wait to the ring?

Interesting question! Because I've been living overseas on a student visa that I have to renew every year, we started talking about where things were going, if we wanted to get married, where we'd wanna live (Spain or move back to the US) after our first year together. It was hard because until we get married I had to keep finding ways to renew my visa (which fortunately I have) so that we wouldn't have to be long distance, and cuz I honestly love living here. So we started planning about a year and a half ago, despite the fact that he hadn't proposed (he wanted to ask my Dad, get me a ring) because we knew it'd be a lot of work planning from abroad. My Mom got wind of our "pre-planning" and while she was happy and didn't spoil the surprise for my Dad, she definitely put the pressure "So when is he gonna do it?" on me lol. I had to keep reminding her that that was his thing and I wasn't gonna tell him when or how to do it. I had a feeling it'd be while we were both in the States this summer (cuz he had a chance to talk to my Dad) and he did :-) ETA: It was after 2 years 9 months together.

@Christine as an immigration attorney I know all too well. Dual Citizenship is awesome with Spain. You and FH couldn't have a better set up nationality wise.

We had been dating 8 and a half years by the time he proposed. We had spent a lot of our relationship long distance due to going to different colleges and then him moving an hour and a half away for his job. We moved in together 2 years ago and bought our first house together a year ago. I honestly didn't expect him to propose so soon after buying the house. I thought we were going to be one of those couples who did everything married couples do, but weren't married. He took me by total surprise and it was perfect.

ETA: FH had the ring for a month before he proposed and I had no clue. He hid it in a storage closet that we never use.

My FH asked my dad for my hand and picked up the ring on a Friday and proposed the next day! He is not good at secrets or holding on to things that know would make me happy. I was definitely surprised, I expected something maybe a few months from that point. <3

Yeah I'm just trying to figure out how I'll get myself a Spanish passport, lol. I know I can get residency but citizenship is tricky I hear.

Dating for a year and a half and he'd been dropping hints for months and I'd done some snooping and knew he had a ring. We went to Jamaica and I just knew it would happen there, but then he made some really off handed comments on the way there that threw me off. So that first night, when he got in the shower I looked in his bag for a ring box (I wasn't going to look at the actual ring, I just wanted to know it was there) but I didn't find one. I was so disappointed and threw a fit. It was ridiculous. He proposed the next morning, he had the ring in his pocket. It didn't even occur to me that he wouldn't have brought it without the ring box. He didn't know I went through his bag until several months later and he started cracking up and said "I left the bag out on purpose, hoping you'd go through it and come up empty handed."

As funny as it all is now, I felt like a fucking brat and wish I had not let my anxiety get the better of me with all of it.

We've been together for 5 years. At the 2 year mark we took a cruise, and I reallllly thought it was going to happen then. But, it didn't. It didn't happen until around 4.5 years. He only had the ring for about a week before we went on vacation, and it was hidden in his tool box in his car trailer...obviously I would never go in there. He is a drag racer and used to race a Corvette. We had a running joke that we would get engaged when he ran a 10 second pass. The fastest he had gone was a little over 11 seconds. In January 14 he sold his corvette and got an 8 second dragster, so he knew he had to keep on his end of the deal. I had no idea when it was coming, but I knew it was sometime, and when it did I was really surprised! We fought a lot in the beginning of our relationship, just getting used to living with each other and everything, but the past few years have been great...can't wait for many many more

Another funny thing about 2 or 3 months prior I worked for him (although I have a full time job) on a full weekend while he enjoyed his high school class reunion oot w/o me. He made a huge deal to his friends and on FB that I "held him down" and that he "was going to make things official real soon" and then our dating anniversary passed... and he still didnt.

Well we dated for 6 1/2 years before getting engaged. After he got a job after college was when I started to get impatient. He ordered the ring in December 2013. It came in just after Valentines Day 2014 and he proposed on February 28th. It would have been earlier but he made a tag for the dog that said "will you marry my daddy" and he made a typo the first time and had to go get a new one made.

@Christine Wow 16 years... you def win. It can def feel like that. Young love.

#Mrs. in May the dog tag is cute

Together this June for 10 years!! It was a difficult, painful wait. We had talked about it, he seemed good and then BAM he would make a comment to all of our friends like "why rush it?" etc. Then we seriously talked about it while looking at houses. We decided to buy a home instead of have a wedding with our savings. He surprised me majorly on Xmas Eve 2014 with the ring. And this August we will be married My cake topper says "Finally!" LOL

Wow! Kudos to some of you for dating for so long! We were dating just under 2 years- we had talked about it about a year before it happened but we just weren't ready yet. Glad we waited a little while. :-) I didn't know he had the ring until the night before he proposed (had a hunch- but never saw it). He didn't even get the ring in his hand until 2 days before he proposed

I don't get why people feel the need to give ultimatums. If you're committed to each other and you're happy, then why rush it? We were dating for 3 years, then we bought a house and moved in together and it was 5.5 years of dating when he proposed. We talked about getting married a lot and went looking at rings a few times. I would joke with him every now and then about getting a ring but nothing serious like, if you don't propose by such and such date then we're done. I knew I would be with him forever, a ring doesn't change that. The cool thing was that it was still a total surprise even though we had talked about it a lot and went looking at rings mere weeks before. I didn't know he purchased it that day

Our story is a bit unique, however to make it quick, no pun intended, we 'officially' started dating mid-February 2014, he went ring shopping the week before his birthday which was March 20th (he told the sales associate he was proposing to his girlfriend for his birthday!) and he proposed May...18th? Something like that. So we dated for maybe a whole three months. I was surprised by the timing of the proposal but I knew he wanted to marry me.

We'd been dating a little over 2 1/2 years when he proposed. We'd talked about marriage, I knew it was coming eventually, but I thought it was going to be another year or so. In the weeks leading up to him proposing, we'd talk about it and he'd complain about how expensive rings were and why was a diamond such a big deal, yada yada. It started to hurt my feelings actually! So I told him I would stop talking about it and let him decide in his own time. Three days later he proposed...he'd had the ring for weeks and just been waiting for the right time. I had no idea

@Chantel I don't think any ladies who shared their story on this thread gave an ultimatum. You guys brought a house together and moved in together. Thats your reality. It doesnt work out like that for everyone. When I met FH he already had a house. And we both personally did not want to live together before marriage. I certainly don't think 3 years is rushing. We all have our own agenda. My dad and step mom dated for 8 years before marriage. My step mom says it doesnt matter how long you date before you face the same problems. It certainly doesnt make things any better or worse.

Yeah i don't see anyone's comment saying they gave their FH and ultimatum... although i do know a few people who did that, taking bets on how long those marriages will last!

We were dating a little over 7 years before he proposed. We had been talking about getting married for months so I knew I was eventually getting a ring, just didn't know when.

I understand that every situation is different. The very first comment hints at an ultimatum of sorts. I've also heard stories elsewhere of people doing that and I just think it's silly.

We've known each other almost ten years now. We had been together for 3 years and 3 months when our friends, who had only been dating for a little over a year, got engaged. I was really disappointed thinking he was never going to take that step. I guess his buddy popping the question put pressure on him. He wanted to buy the ring outright, rather than finance. He had let it slip that he was looking around Chrismastime, and when he got a holiday bonus I knew it was a matter of time. He finally proposed in Dec 2013, at 3.5 years in. We're getting married the weekend of our 5 year anniversary