What lengths would you go to for a marriage proposal?

Now call me old fashioned but I think there's nothing like a home made wedding proposal - you whip the ring out in a beautiful setting somewhere or for something a bit more chi chi pop the ring inside the lucky girl's champagne glass (provided she doesn't choke on it!) - whatever it may be.

So when I read about how recently some guys in Sing were dropping anything up to $11,000 to enlist the help of WEDDING PLANNERS yes wedding planners to help them execute their proposal I was a) shocked b) amused c) horrified then d) pitiful pretty much in that order.

Come on guys didn't anyone tell you that you're supposed to use wedding planners for erm...weddings and that you should be able to deal with the proposal stage by yourself?

For that kind of fee apparently you can get a proposal dreamt up and orchestrated for you which could be a Marry Me ice sculpture which perhaps would look something like this...

 Hmmmm classy....not!

Or maybe you could pop the question during a helicopter ride. OK maybe that's a little better but still there's a part of me that can't help thinking it's all a bit bad taste.

Apparently these men are so time starved and pressurised by increasing expectations from girls that they just can't do it alone.

Jonathan Goh, the Country Director for Singapore at the Association of Bridal Consultants reportedly told the Straits Times that  "The men want something different and have no clue over how to make their proposal unique,' and 'Also, women... expect more. The 'let's buy an HDB flat' proposal doesn't cut it anymore.'

WTF?!!!

I love the last part of the equation, and would love to know if anyone has ever used the buying of an HDB flat as the basis for the proposal! How romantic.

As I see it, the fact that men need to call in the "experts" could really be because:

1. They are so afraid of failure or being met with a no that they will dream up something that the bride can't possibly say no to.

2. They are so uninspired by their bride to be that they can't think of an interesting way of proposing themselves.

3. Their partner is so demanding and displeased by the simple things in life that this is the start of things to come - watch of for bridezilla!

4. That they are so boring that they can't think of anything exciting themselves that things are going to be very very dull in the future.

Actually there are lots of other permutations but this is just the start!

If you were going to spend all that money, at least spend it on doing something genuinely creative like this flashmob proposal.



Now that in my book would be money well spent!