Photo credit – Alex Martinez via unsplash.com

After my post A decent proposal, I invited people to share their proposal stories with me. I was delighted to receive this one – even though it really wasn’t a proposal at all. The couple in this story have been together for years, and have now decided to get married. Previously they avoided the marriage question by mutual agreement. That all changed in April, 2016.

Mr T and Ms J have been together for about 17 years. They live together and have done so for some time. Discussion about marriage has come up from time to time over their time together but they had always decided that they were perfectly happy with their existing arrangements and so decided against it.

After all this time, why now?
This year they both had so-called “milestone” birthdays approaching. It seems that was the trigger for each of them (interestingly separately, and then together) to revisit their relationship and give further thought to their commitment to each other.

No proposal
Mr T did not propose to Ms J and Ms J did not propose to Mr T.  Rather, the concept of marriage became an evolving discussion to the point where, one day sitting on the balcony of a hotel room in Singapore, they decided that yes, they would get married! They happened to be celebrating the success of a recent business deal with a glass of champagne, so then moved to a second toast.

A new beginning?
Is this a new beginning or simply a continuation of all the years before? How is it going to change Mr T and Ms J as individuals and as a couple? Will it … ? Both are looking forward to the next chapter in their relationship and, after years of shunning the idea of marriage, are genuinely looking forward to becoming husband and wife.

I would love to hear your story if you are willing to share it. Please email me.