Love at first sight

Most of you know how I feel about reality television. Well.... one show finally got to me. Last night, I watched Queer Eye for the Straight Guy on NBC and today I feel an urge to finally commit to cable.

I watched the Fab Five assist the hopelessly romantic John with preparations for his big night - a marriage proposal to his Armenian love. Those guys thought of everything, even providing the Armenian translation for "I love you."

I've always been fascinated by the stories of how couples met and what happened the night he (or she) proposed. So I started thinking about the couples in my life.

My grandparents are going to celebrate 57 years of marriage. Their marriage was arranged, but you'd never know it. My dad met my mother at a dance. He watched her, gathered his courage to ask for a dance, and by the time that song was over he knew she was the woman he would spend the rest of his life with (sigh).

A friend of mine dressed up as Santa and proposed to his wife on Christmas Eve in front of her entire family (no pressure there).

As for my dear cousin... a male friend of mine was over. My cousin dropped by for a visit before my flight the next morning. We all hung out for a few hours - nothing significant appeared to happen. When he leaned down to give me a hug goodbye, he whispered in my ear that he was going to become part of my family. That whole night, I hadn't even been aware that I was witnessing something special.

So, forgive me for prying, but how did you propose? Were you nervous? Were you expecting the proposal or did it come out of left field? And how did you know you wanted to marry that person?