Ask Josh The Pilot: Proposal FAQs, Groom-to-be Edition, Part 1

Carrie said…

I want the details of the engagement, did you ask for her hand first, how was it done, all the girlie details!

For the girlie details check the FAQs written by MB.

Yes, I did first ask her parents for her hand. When I was driving from Oklahoma to Viriginia last November I stopped in Cincinnati to make The Request. It was a bit weird because I knew they were going to say yes, but I wanted to officially ask anyway. I knew it because I had already talked to her mom about possible wedding rings, and she wouldn’t be discussing wedding rings with me if she didn’t want me to marry her daughter! Even though I knew I already had their implied permission, I wanted to hear her parents, especially her dad, say, “If she says yes, you may marry Mary Beth.”

Anonymous said...

So what were her actual words when you asked her? Was she completely surprised? How did you choose The Ring? How did her family react?

Her actual words when I asked her were, I think, “Yes, of course,” and then she started to cry.

She wasn’t surprised that I asked her to marry me (again, see original proposal FAQs) but she was surprised at the timing. I think she thought I would ask her at Christmas or New Years or even Valentine’s Day, but I didn’t want to wait that long.

I had The Ring custom-made by a jeweler in Oklahoma while I was there for Air Traffic Controller Boot Camp. I searched the big stores in the malls, but everything in my price range looked so cheap and impersonal, definitely not what Mary Beth deserves. Like how we met, I found the jeweler online and visited his shop. I explained that I’d found the most wonderful woman in the world but I couldn’t find a ring in my price range that represents how I feel about her. I told him she wants a sapphire, not a diamond, which impressed him a lot. He told me to come back in three days. Upon my return, he had made what you’ve already seen, a ring that is precisely MB’s style and says exactly how much I love her.

Her family didn’t react any particular way. If anything, they were like, “It’s about time!”

Anonymous2 said...

Hello! I'm curious if MB is going to change her last name when she gets married. Being a writer and all, I thought that maybe she would not. Or perhaps doubling-up the surname?

MB will be changing her legal last name to mine, but since she’s been published (two books and numerous online articles) as Mary Beth Ellis, that will be her writing name.