If someone proposed to me like this, my answer would be an immediate ‘no’

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Before I knew it, he was down on one knee, proposing to her right there in the middle of my reception!” He continued: “John’s girlfriend said yes, and everyone started clapping and cheering, but I was fuming. Take the aforementioned wedding examples – by proposing in front of that many people at someone else’s romantic celebration, John isn’t so much proving his love for his girlfriend as he is trying to prove his self-worth to his friends. If someone proposed to me in any of the aforementioned ways – or, actually, anywhere in public – my answer would be an instant and emphatic “No!” Not just because of how mortified I’d feel being exposed like that, but because it would show me how little my partner knows and understands me.