Well, it was December 8, 2002 when I proposed. We had actually been waiting on her ring to arrive since we had special ordered it 6 weeks prior. She wanted white gold instead of the gold they had at the store. So, she never knew exactly when the ring would come in.
The night before the store called me and said it was in. So, I wanted to get it done. Because when you are ready to propose you want to do it NOW! Well it was Sunday the next day. So, after church we would usually eat lunch at my parent's place in town. This time I drove past their turnoff and she asked me "Are you going a different way?" I said "Yes, we need to waste some time. Mom said she needed some extra time for lunch today. Let's just drive around." My fiance was like "Ok."
I drove to her favorite park in the area. She looked at me funny because we were in a park in the wintertime. I said let's get out and walk around. She looked at me funny and smiled because she had an inkling what I was going to do.
I took her over this bridge of water and we sat by a park bench. It was a nice pretty setting. I told her all sorts of nice things about her and proposed. She said "Yes!" of course. I had a dozen red roses for her that I hid in the trunk. Then we went to this fancy, expensive restaurant to celebrate.
So, I went the quiet personal route for the proposal. It worked well for me