Women propose to their partners just like model Kelly Brook — but did they get the answer they expected?
IT IS the perennial proposer poser – should the guy or the girl be the one to pop the big question?
On Tuesday we told how Kelly Brook had asked fellow model Jeremy Parisi to marry her during a holiday in Antigua – but the 32-year-old Italian hunk turned her down, hushing her because there were people close by who might overhear.
So should 38-year-old Kelly’s experience be a lesson to any other women thinking of declaring their feelings to their fellas?
Or should women be loud and proud and announce that they want to spend the rest of their lives with The One?
Here, three women who proposed explain why they did it – as well as the outcome – and Fabulous Daily editor JOELY CHILCOTT tells why she would rather die alone and surrounded by bridal magazines than propose.
He said yes
QUALITY manager Jill Simkins, 36, from Derby, proposed to partner Richard, 38, who works for Rolls-Royce, by writing “Will you marry me?” in the sand in 2016 and they married last year.
She says: “I’d definitely encourage other women to propose. There might have been taboos around it in the past but no one has reacted badly.”
Jill, who met Richard online six years ago, adds: “The idea came to me four years after we met when I saw a bottle of real ale called ‘I love you will you marry me?’ It was my inspiration to go for it.
“Richard’s family has always gone to the same beach in Pembrokeshire for holidays. It’s gorgeous and I knew it would mean a lot to Richard to get engaged there.
“I found a sand artist called Marc Treanor and we worked together to create a Celtic heart design with the proposal wording set round the outside.
“We went away with Richard’s family for Easter in 2016 and that’s when I popped the question.
Richard's family go to same beach every year. I got a sand artist there to create Celtic heart
Jill Simkins
"We had two days when Marc could get to draw the design in the sand.
"I helped create the picture with rakes. It was really exciting, especially writing Richard’s name. My stomach did a flip.
“When it was done, Richard and I were at the clifftop and looked down to see the proposal. He was quiet for a long time before he said, ‘Of course!’
“I bought Richard a wedding ring with a band of sand set in it from the beach where I proposed.”
Richard says: “I couldn’t have topped what Jill did. I’m chuffed she proposed to me. These days it shouldn’t matter who proposed to whom. I’m proud.”
He said no
FULL-time mum Sevil Thomas, 42, lives in Acton, West London with her partner, personal trainer Leighton Smith, 35, and their daughter Kiara, 21 months. She has proposed several times but he keeps saying no.
Sevil says: “Deep down I know I don’t need the big day to know we’ll be together for ever, but there is still that girly part of me that wants to be a princess on my big day.
“I don’t believe that there are — as Theresa May said last year — girl jobs and boy jobs any more.
That’s why I reckon, just as I take the bins out, so should I be able to propose.
“I want my daughter to know she’s within her rights to propose if she wants.
“Plus, I don’t think my partner is going to pop the question any time soon.
“We met in a gym eight years ago when we were both studying to be personal trainers.
We got together about four months later. We moved in together two years ago when Kiara was born.
I proposed shortly after we found out we were having a baby.
“He probably wasn’t expecting it. I was shocked when he said no.
“He explained he doesn’t believe in marriage. Since then I’ve proposed at least once a year and he says no each time.
“I’ve been married before, at 26. I had a big wedding and I enjoyed it.
“I understand why he doesn’t want to wed. He’s seen so many marriages break up. And we’re already there for each other, for better or worse.
“We are happy together and I will keep on proposing to him.
“Nowadays it is fine for the mum to be the breadwinner and for society to accept stay-at-home dads, yet when it comes to proposals, we’re stuck in the middle ages.
“I don’t understand why there is a taboo around it.”
I was shocked by his reply but he has seen a lot of marriages fail. I will keep on asking though
Sevil Thomas
Leighton says: “It came as a bolt from the blue when Sevil proposed. I’m traditional and normally it’s a man who asks his other half to marry him, not the other way round.
“But I think marriage is a waste of time. I’m not religious so having a big day for that reason doesn’t interest me either.
“We are really happy together. I believe in the saying, ‘If it isn’t broke, why fix it?"
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They said yes...but not just yet
WRITER Lucinda Birtles, 41, lives with businessman husband Matt, 47, and their children Aimee, ten, and Olivia, eight, in Chesterfield, Derbyshire.
She proposed in 2004 and he said yes – but she says she faced some resistance and they didn’t tie the knot until August 2016.
Lucinda says: “We’d only been together for six months when I proposed. It felt right, we’d been friends for a long time.
“I wanted to show him I was serious about our relationship and it was a leap year, so it felt like the right time.
“I’m quite liberal and, although I like tradition, I don’t think it matters if it’s a man or woman who proposes.
“On the day I proposed we’d argued all day because I was so anxious. All our mates knew, so the pressure was on.
"I wanted to do it on the turn of midnight but I was crying in the toilets so my friends said to just get out there and do it at 10.30pm.
“I wiped my tears, sat him down and opened the box with the ring in it and he put his hand over it and said yes.
“But then we had a long engagement. There was some resistance to doing a big thing. It was pushed to the background.
On the day asked I was so anxious I was crying in the toilet. My friends said 'Just do it!'
Lucinda Birtles
“We’d find a reason not to do it, such as moving house or starting our own businesses and focusing on that. But then I just said, ‘It’s happening. We are doing it next year.’
“I’d always had it in mind that I wanted to do it before I turned 40 and it was my big birthday three weeks after the wedding.
"Our daughters were bridesmaids and it was nice for them to be involved.
“I’d have felt it’s something I didn’t get to do if we hadn’t tied the knot. When you’ve got kids it cements the family, too.”
Matt, who converts van interiors, says: “Being proposed to by a woman was quite overwhelming and actually quite sexy.
I was amazed and it made me really happy.
“I felt our relationship was stronger and we were excited about the future. Being married now feels great. We are happy and secure.”
You can't leave it to men
I FULLY support women doing it for themselves, but I just couldn’t be the one to propose, says Joely Chilcott, Fabulous Daily Editor.
Firstly, men have one job. Women have to carry a baby for nine months, breastfeed and often face a cross path in their career, so I don’t think it should be too much of a burden for our other halves to ask ONE question.
It also gives men a chance to show off that creative flair and loving nature that they have been hiding beneath petrol station flowers.
I guess if I’m honest, the insecure, vulnerable side of me would think he is just not that into me.
If I proposed, that niggling feeling at the back of my mind would be telling me he could not be bothered to do it himself.
I don’t think marriage is a prerequisite to a healthy relationship, but if bridal magazines have been subtly left on the kitchen side, engagement rings in the search history of your laptop and a wedding playlist on your Spotify, then it’s time for him to take the bait.
With that said, I have been with my boyfriend for ten years and he STILL hasn’t put a ring on it.
If you do leave things to men, sometimes they just don’t get done.
But I would still rather cry into my Pinterest boards than get down on one knee.
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