25 People Share Their Stories Of Being Rejected During A Marriage Proposal
When it comes to marriage proposals, the anticipation of a resounding "yes" can make the moment either euphoric or heart-wrenching.
When it comes to marriage proposals, the anticipation of a resounding "yes" can make the moment either euphoric or heart-wrenching. Recently, a question on Reddit sparked a wave of candid and sometimes poignant responses: "Guys who got told 'No' during a failed marriage proposal, what happened afterwards?"
For many, the aftermath of such a moment can be a mix of emotions and decisions. Some shared tales of resilience and growth, where rejection became a catalyst for personal development. Scroll below to read some of the stories.
Image source: CheeseCycle, Pradeep Potter / Unsplash
Asked this girl to marry me and she said no because I didn't ask her right. I don't know exactly why, but it didn't bother me much. We had a strange history and it just seemed like par for the course. About a year later, I met someone else and we will be celebrating 31 years in a few weeks. Sometimes things do work out for the best.
Image source: therealjohnsmith, Alex Green / Pexels
I can tell you what happens when you propose and she isn't feeling it but says yes anyway because of social pressure - very awkward sad time until you finally have the talk you should have had before proposing.
Image source: Heauxdessa, Jakayla Toney / Unsplash
Dated for 3 years. He was, I thought the love of my life. I locked eyes with him and as I was about to open my mouth and say “will you marry me” he said “we need to break up”. He met some one else. They have been married for two years and it turns out I’m into women. We DO NOT speak but I wish him the best.
Image source: solvent825, RDNE Stock project / Pexels
My wife told me no twice before saying yes. The first time she said “you’re drunk” I was, point taken. The second time she replied “I love you and like dating you but you’re not emotionally mature enough to marry”. Indeed. I cut back my drinking and worked on my emotional maturity / mental health. We’ve been married over 20yrs now.
Image source: blackmobius, Vera Arsic / Pexels
I got everything ready and she said “no, at least not right now”. And it sorta muted the rest of the weekend. Several people heard I was gonna ask and congratulated me the next week… it was surreal informing them she said no.
It should have been a wake up call to just end it there, but neither of us wanted to. We were our first everything and we had a lot of history. I guess I thought it would just work out, but her reservations on being married at that time never really went away. I admitted that both of us wanted exclusive things- our lives were headed towards opposite directions, And compromise just meant someone was going to be resentful.
When we started dating, both of us really helped each other out in a lot of areas and through some really challenging times. But we learned (later on) that things that were great then may not be great now. Both of us were good people, but some things just have a lifespan. We got what we needed and it was time for the next phase of our lives… alone.
A huge part of successful marriages requires compromise on small issues. But some issues have no compromise. Its ok to fight for things if theres a way that both of you can get what you want, and theres no shame in letting things go if theres nothing more than can be done
We broke up 7 or so months later. Restarting life (for what was the second time for me) was tough because I was also going through a lot of othet things and she wasnt able to be there anymore. The same thing was happening on her end, so it just kinda ended there.
We both dated other people and got married to others eventually. So in the super longer term, it was all ok.
Image source: travelingpirate, Anastasia Shuraeva / Pexels
Was with a girl for a couple years. I started talking about getting married. She was up for it but kinda distant about it. I take her out ring shopping and she breaks down. Tells me she can’t marry me.
I was really confused I thought things were going great. Turns out I was just the guy taking care of her until her Ex gets out of prison.
I paid for her schooling helped her get off d***s. We were looking at houses. I thought we were making a life together.
She left me not long after that. He got out of prison a few months later. She went back to stripping. I ran into them a few times. I guess she’s happy.
Image source: No_Witness_1234, Max Fischer / Pexels
My 7th grade teacher brought his gf to school to propose to her in front of our entire class and she said no it was the topic of discussion almost every day that year nbs he ended up moving schools at the end of the year.
Image source: Interesting-Buy-1548, Ivan Samkov / Pexels
It was rough! We cried together in the car on the way home. She loved me but she wasn’t ready. We talked about it in the following days, it felt like a setback but (looking back) it was actually a springboard to a deeper level of communication.
2 years later she gave an enthusiastic “yes” and now we have a beautiful baby girl and 6 years of happy marriage.
Image source: Nearby_Carpenter_675, Nicole Michalou / Pexels
If a girl says no to a proposal the guy should have known better than to ask.
A good friend of mine, who was only 19 at the time, heard from her parents that her boyfriend of about 4 months was going to propose at midnight on New Years in front of her entire family. She was terrified and didn't want to say yes, but her parents were super insanely strict and threatened to throw her out of the house if she didn't say yes. I called her (I was drunk) at 11:58 and kept her on the phone for about 10 minutes telling her bad jokes and getting every single person at the party I was at to say HNY to her. Ruined the moment for the guy, and he never asked. Ooops I ruined New Years Eve 1991 for Kevin. Oh we've been married for 28 years now.
Image source: hithisispat, RDNE Stock project / Pexels
Technically she said yes. But then we went to surprise her family with the good news and her parents immediately told us to break it off. She was not going to spend her entire remaining life with a black man. We just broke up and moved on. I found a way better girl from a non-racist family. We’re married with 3 kids now and doing great. Ex is a d**g addict in Kentucky, BUT AT LEAST she’s married to a white man. Living paycheck to paycheck.
Image source: Duranis, cottonbro studio / Pexels
So for my other half s 30th I phoned her and said "do you want an engagement ring or a dishwasher".
She chose the dishwasher.
14 years later we are still together :)
In her defence I had always been very anti-marriage and she thought I was joking. Also washing dishes by hand sucks so I think she made the right choice.
Image source: apetnameddingbat, Daniel Moises Magulado / pexels
We'd been joking around about it for months, I'd ask sarcastically in the most un-romantic way. She'd say no, we'd laugh and move on with our day...
I'd apparently conditioned her so well that when I asked for real, she flippantly turned me down, and everyone around me either gasped or got this real awkward look on their face. She changed her tune s**t quick when she actually looked and saw me holding the ring.
We've been married 17 years now. Good times.
Image source: ColdFIREBaker, Mikhail Nilov / Pexels
My mom's boyfriend proposed to her three months into dating. She was 40, had one disastrous marriage and subsequent divorce under her belt by that time, and felt like it was too soon in the relationship to be talking marriage. He accepted her No, but said he wouldn't ask again, and he hasn't. They've been together 25+ years now and never married.
Image source: tiptoe_only, Envy Creative / Unsplash
Not a guy, but I set things up to be perfect, the two of us totally alone at sunset on a Sicilian beach, and he said no out of pure shock. He'd always expected that it would be him asking me not the other way round.
Then his brain kind of caught up with what was going on and he was horrified at himself for just saying "no" like that. He told me of course he wanted to marry me and he hadn't meant no as in he didn't want to marry me, it was more like "no way did you just ask me that"! But it came out wrong.
We both agreed that this wasn't the proposal we'd both want to remember forever, so we'd do it again properly some other time. 9 months later he proposed to me on my birthday in one of my favourite spots. To his relief I didn't say no, and we've now been married 10 years.
Image source: FaithlessnessWeak800, Deepak Joshy / Pexels
I said no because he was an addict (I was not but I was young n dumb). He “showed me” by running out and marrying an Asian woman with 2 kids six months later. She used him for a green card and he adopted her kids so now he has to pay her child support. I learned this because his MOM came by my parents home to “catch up.” My mom said it was beyond awkward. I broke up with this fool when I was 17 and she was trying to reconnect us. Bruh, I’m 34 happily married and we have 4 kids. Kick rocks.
Image source: Loud_Account_3469, Robin Edqvist / Unsplash
Not my story, but told from our jeweler when we were buying our wedding bands…
So a guy comes in to buy an engagement ring. The jeweler sits down with him to talk about design, cost, and what have you. Our jeweler always asks people about how they are going to propose. She likes to share in the excitement. The guy brags about how he is going to propose to his gf at a ball game. On the big screen in front of the entire stadium while his favorite team plays. As the guy is speaking our jeweler notices that everything is centered around the guy. From the ring, to the proposal. No mention of what his gf likes. Our jeweler gets a bad feeling, but she sells him the ring.
Not long after the guy comes back in with the ring. The gf said no which really didn’t surprise the jeweler.
Image source: humanbogo2324, Caleb Oquendo / Pexels
I am a woman, but I spent a year asking my boyfriend to marry me on a regular basis. I’d say “wanna get married?” And he’d say yes, and I’d say “can I tell my parents?” And he’d say no. A straight up year. Until finally we went on a little trip a couple hours from our apartment and he whipped out the letters he’d exchanged with my parents about wanting to propose. Just had our 6th anniversary.
Image source: Altruistic-Sand3277, Tima Miroshnichenko / Pexels
Not a guy but a girl, I asked my boyfriend to marry me. I didn't do a whole scene about it, we were talking and I said that I wanted to get married and I felt ready for it and he just said no.
I was mad, he had never mentioned this and we've talked about it before. All he had ever said was that he didn't want it cause it was expensive and didn't want a big party and so, in my understanding, we would get married at the courthouse and have a small gathering with family and close friends.
Then I found out he didn't want to get married cause his parents had a divorce and he didn't want to go through that
It took a while to unravel all his issues with marriage. At a certain point I said I'm not gonna wait around with a guy that doesn't want to get married, I had always been very clear about wanting to get married. He disagreed and said I've also mentioned that I didn't want a big wedding. I'm like...wut?
We realised we were both talking about different things. He had put together marriage and the wedding and I wasn't.
Still obviously it wasn't solved right then and there. I gave him some time to think. After like a month I came back to the subject and he asked me why I wanted to get married and I talked about all the laws that protect the couple in the eventuality of disease and death, in owning property, in security if we had children, etc. He suddenly just said "oh I didn't know about that, then yeah we'll get married then"
We've been happily married for 5 years. Almost everyday he says he's so happy being married to me and that his wedding day was one of the happiest of his life.
Image source: Stratafyre, Marko Klaric / Pexels
I realized ten seconds later that she actually said "You know I will." And she's just really quiet when she talks.
Image source: Odd_Criticism604, Alena Darmel / Pexels
My dad proposed to my mom 3 times. She laughed each time and took the ring all 3 of them. They have been living miserably together ever since (I’m 31 now) they built a separate living room and avoid each other. My dad says he regrets it to this day.
My dad is a wonderful man, and every time I asked why he stayed with that retched woman he would say “because she’s your mother” he never goes into any more detail.
If she says no just move on.
#1
Image source: CheeseCycle, Pradeep Potter / Unsplash
Asked this girl to marry me and she said no because I didn't ask her right. I don't know exactly why, but it didn't bother me much. We had a strange history and it just seemed like par for the course. About a year later, I met someone else and we will be celebrating 31 years in a few weeks. Sometimes things do work out for the best.
#2
Proposed to her at 22. She said no. We stayed friendly while life took us on different paths. About twenty five years later, we got married. Image source: elektroloko#3
Image source: therealjohnsmith, Alex Green / Pexels
I can tell you what happens when you propose and she isn't feeling it but says yes anyway because of social pressure - very awkward sad time until you finally have the talk you should have had before proposing.
#4
Image source: Heauxdessa, Jakayla Toney / Unsplash
Dated for 3 years. He was, I thought the love of my life. I locked eyes with him and as I was about to open my mouth and say “will you marry me” he said “we need to break up”. He met some one else. They have been married for two years and it turns out I’m into women. We DO NOT speak but I wish him the best.
#5
Image source: solvent825, RDNE Stock project / Pexels
My wife told me no twice before saying yes. The first time she said “you’re drunk” I was, point taken. The second time she replied “I love you and like dating you but you’re not emotionally mature enough to marry”. Indeed. I cut back my drinking and worked on my emotional maturity / mental health. We’ve been married over 20yrs now.
#6
Image source: blackmobius, Vera Arsic / Pexels
I got everything ready and she said “no, at least not right now”. And it sorta muted the rest of the weekend. Several people heard I was gonna ask and congratulated me the next week… it was surreal informing them she said no.
It should have been a wake up call to just end it there, but neither of us wanted to. We were our first everything and we had a lot of history. I guess I thought it would just work out, but her reservations on being married at that time never really went away. I admitted that both of us wanted exclusive things- our lives were headed towards opposite directions, And compromise just meant someone was going to be resentful.
When we started dating, both of us really helped each other out in a lot of areas and through some really challenging times. But we learned (later on) that things that were great then may not be great now. Both of us were good people, but some things just have a lifespan. We got what we needed and it was time for the next phase of our lives… alone.
A huge part of successful marriages requires compromise on small issues. But some issues have no compromise. Its ok to fight for things if theres a way that both of you can get what you want, and theres no shame in letting things go if theres nothing more than can be done
We broke up 7 or so months later. Restarting life (for what was the second time for me) was tough because I was also going through a lot of othet things and she wasnt able to be there anymore. The same thing was happening on her end, so it just kinda ended there.
We both dated other people and got married to others eventually. So in the super longer term, it was all ok.
#7
Image source: travelingpirate, Anastasia Shuraeva / Pexels
Was with a girl for a couple years. I started talking about getting married. She was up for it but kinda distant about it. I take her out ring shopping and she breaks down. Tells me she can’t marry me.
I was really confused I thought things were going great. Turns out I was just the guy taking care of her until her Ex gets out of prison.
I paid for her schooling helped her get off d***s. We were looking at houses. I thought we were making a life together.
She left me not long after that. He got out of prison a few months later. She went back to stripping. I ran into them a few times. I guess she’s happy.
#8
Image source: No_Witness_1234, Max Fischer / Pexels
My 7th grade teacher brought his gf to school to propose to her in front of our entire class and she said no it was the topic of discussion almost every day that year nbs he ended up moving schools at the end of the year.
#9
Image source: Interesting-Buy-1548, Ivan Samkov / Pexels
It was rough! We cried together in the car on the way home. She loved me but she wasn’t ready. We talked about it in the following days, it felt like a setback but (looking back) it was actually a springboard to a deeper level of communication.
2 years later she gave an enthusiastic “yes” and now we have a beautiful baby girl and 6 years of happy marriage.
#10
Image source: Nearby_Carpenter_675, Nicole Michalou / Pexels
If a girl says no to a proposal the guy should have known better than to ask.
A good friend of mine, who was only 19 at the time, heard from her parents that her boyfriend of about 4 months was going to propose at midnight on New Years in front of her entire family. She was terrified and didn't want to say yes, but her parents were super insanely strict and threatened to throw her out of the house if she didn't say yes. I called her (I was drunk) at 11:58 and kept her on the phone for about 10 minutes telling her bad jokes and getting every single person at the party I was at to say HNY to her. Ruined the moment for the guy, and he never asked. Ooops I ruined New Years Eve 1991 for Kevin. Oh we've been married for 28 years now.
#11
Image source: hithisispat, RDNE Stock project / Pexels
Technically she said yes. But then we went to surprise her family with the good news and her parents immediately told us to break it off. She was not going to spend her entire remaining life with a black man. We just broke up and moved on. I found a way better girl from a non-racist family. We’re married with 3 kids now and doing great. Ex is a d**g addict in Kentucky, BUT AT LEAST she’s married to a white man. Living paycheck to paycheck.
#12
Image source: Duranis, cottonbro studio / Pexels
So for my other half s 30th I phoned her and said "do you want an engagement ring or a dishwasher".
She chose the dishwasher.
14 years later we are still together :)
In her defence I had always been very anti-marriage and she thought I was joking. Also washing dishes by hand sucks so I think she made the right choice.
#13
Image source: apetnameddingbat, Daniel Moises Magulado / pexels
We'd been joking around about it for months, I'd ask sarcastically in the most un-romantic way. She'd say no, we'd laugh and move on with our day...
I'd apparently conditioned her so well that when I asked for real, she flippantly turned me down, and everyone around me either gasped or got this real awkward look on their face. She changed her tune s**t quick when she actually looked and saw me holding the ring.
We've been married 17 years now. Good times.
#14
Not the guy here, but the nay-sayer. He had just finished a 1000 mile solo cycling tour and I met him at the finish. I was so caught up in his achievement that I did not see the proposal coming and I was shocked. So I told him right there: "I love you, but I can't give you an answer right now". Of course there were tears and we both called family members and then continued on our planned holiday. We had such a good time on our holidays and were able to enjoy each other's company like normal. So I figured that if we can handle this bump in the road this well, we are a great team and at the end of the holiday I told him I would love to marry him. That was 7 years ago, and I haven't regretted my decision for a second. I simply needed time to process a life-changing choice and my partner was mature enough to understand this. Image source: CanisLupusCa#15
Image source: ColdFIREBaker, Mikhail Nilov / Pexels
My mom's boyfriend proposed to her three months into dating. She was 40, had one disastrous marriage and subsequent divorce under her belt by that time, and felt like it was too soon in the relationship to be talking marriage. He accepted her No, but said he wouldn't ask again, and he hasn't. They've been together 25+ years now and never married.
#16
You just have to hug her and high-five her a several times over, and ask again. Works like charm in The Sims. Image source: LucasBastonne#17
Image source: tiptoe_only, Envy Creative / Unsplash
Not a guy, but I set things up to be perfect, the two of us totally alone at sunset on a Sicilian beach, and he said no out of pure shock. He'd always expected that it would be him asking me not the other way round.
Then his brain kind of caught up with what was going on and he was horrified at himself for just saying "no" like that. He told me of course he wanted to marry me and he hadn't meant no as in he didn't want to marry me, it was more like "no way did you just ask me that"! But it came out wrong.
We both agreed that this wasn't the proposal we'd both want to remember forever, so we'd do it again properly some other time. 9 months later he proposed to me on my birthday in one of my favourite spots. To his relief I didn't say no, and we've now been married 10 years.
#18
Image source: FaithlessnessWeak800, Deepak Joshy / Pexels
I said no because he was an addict (I was not but I was young n dumb). He “showed me” by running out and marrying an Asian woman with 2 kids six months later. She used him for a green card and he adopted her kids so now he has to pay her child support. I learned this because his MOM came by my parents home to “catch up.” My mom said it was beyond awkward. I broke up with this fool when I was 17 and she was trying to reconnect us. Bruh, I’m 34 happily married and we have 4 kids. Kick rocks.
#19
Image source: Loud_Account_3469, Robin Edqvist / Unsplash
Not my story, but told from our jeweler when we were buying our wedding bands…
So a guy comes in to buy an engagement ring. The jeweler sits down with him to talk about design, cost, and what have you. Our jeweler always asks people about how they are going to propose. She likes to share in the excitement. The guy brags about how he is going to propose to his gf at a ball game. On the big screen in front of the entire stadium while his favorite team plays. As the guy is speaking our jeweler notices that everything is centered around the guy. From the ring, to the proposal. No mention of what his gf likes. Our jeweler gets a bad feeling, but she sells him the ring.
Not long after the guy comes back in with the ring. The gf said no which really didn’t surprise the jeweler.
#20
Image source: humanbogo2324, Caleb Oquendo / Pexels
I am a woman, but I spent a year asking my boyfriend to marry me on a regular basis. I’d say “wanna get married?” And he’d say yes, and I’d say “can I tell my parents?” And he’d say no. A straight up year. Until finally we went on a little trip a couple hours from our apartment and he whipped out the letters he’d exchanged with my parents about wanting to propose. Just had our 6th anniversary.
#21
Image source: Altruistic-Sand3277, Tima Miroshnichenko / Pexels
Not a guy but a girl, I asked my boyfriend to marry me. I didn't do a whole scene about it, we were talking and I said that I wanted to get married and I felt ready for it and he just said no.
I was mad, he had never mentioned this and we've talked about it before. All he had ever said was that he didn't want it cause it was expensive and didn't want a big party and so, in my understanding, we would get married at the courthouse and have a small gathering with family and close friends.
Then I found out he didn't want to get married cause his parents had a divorce and he didn't want to go through that
It took a while to unravel all his issues with marriage. At a certain point I said I'm not gonna wait around with a guy that doesn't want to get married, I had always been very clear about wanting to get married. He disagreed and said I've also mentioned that I didn't want a big wedding. I'm like...wut?
We realised we were both talking about different things. He had put together marriage and the wedding and I wasn't.
Still obviously it wasn't solved right then and there. I gave him some time to think. After like a month I came back to the subject and he asked me why I wanted to get married and I talked about all the laws that protect the couple in the eventuality of disease and death, in owning property, in security if we had children, etc. He suddenly just said "oh I didn't know about that, then yeah we'll get married then"
We've been happily married for 5 years. Almost everyday he says he's so happy being married to me and that his wedding day was one of the happiest of his life.
#22
She was graduating with her Masters, I still had two years left for my PhD. I floated the idea privately,... she said "If you ask me formally, I will say yes. But if you really love me, give me a year to prove to myself that I can live on my own." I said "No problem." She moved to her job, down in New Jersey. Next I heard of her, she was engaged to another guy I knew. I took that as "another bullet dodged, another life lesson learned.". Image source: Junkyard_DrCrash#23
Image source: Stratafyre, Marko Klaric / Pexels
I realized ten seconds later that she actually said "You know I will." And she's just really quiet when she talks.
#24
Image source: Odd_Criticism604, Alena Darmel / Pexels
My dad proposed to my mom 3 times. She laughed each time and took the ring all 3 of them. They have been living miserably together ever since (I’m 31 now) they built a separate living room and avoid each other. My dad says he regrets it to this day.
My dad is a wonderful man, and every time I asked why he stayed with that retched woman he would say “because she’s your mother” he never goes into any more detail.
If she says no just move on.
#25
My wife said yes but I was still waiting for the other shoe to drop up until the wedding day. She had rejected two men before me on marriage proposals and had told me she was a bit of a commitment phobe. Her matron of honor slept over the night before the wedding and slept by the front door to make sure my wife didn’t leave during the night and if she did, to call me and let me know what happened so I could enact my backup plan. I had a backup plan in case she pulled a runner at the ceremony. She almost didn’t go in on the day of. I was prepared just in case. Then she showed up, we got married and just celebrated our ten year anniversary. She still breaks out in hives and has mini freak outs when she realizes how long we’ve been together despite having two kids, a house, mortgage etc. For those of you guys dealing with commitment phobes, tell them what you’ve got planned. I let my wife know months ahead of time that I was planning on proposing and gained insights that if I were going to do it, that it had to be a certain way. Never propose in public unless your girlfriend is into that. Also make sure that if you are going to propose, she’s aware and that you know with certainty that’s what she wants. Communicate people. It isn’t that hard. Image source: DfiggsmeisterDE
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