The simple proposals can sometimes feel just as endearing as the grand ones, if not more. Many couples who were featured in The New York Times’s Weddings section in 2025 seemed to be averse to the formalities and drawn to the casual and informal engagement — but with a personal touch that makes it extra sentimental.
Perhaps because weddings have become so expensive, the simple, thoughtful proposal serves as a balancing act.
Naim Bhuiyan proposed by sending a video via AirDrop of Anna Zhang’s parents giving him their blessing. Kathryn Scott and Patrick Oster bought their dream house in their 80s, and Mr. Oster turned to Ms. Scott and suggested it would be a great place to get married. “That was the proposal, I guess,” she said. There were lots of low-key at-home proposals, and many couples used their grandparents’ rings. (Vintage rings have been popular as of late.)
Here are 10 of the best proposals from couples who appeared in the Weddings pages this year.
The Surprise Journal Entry
Six months into dating, in June 2019, Tucker Higgins was sure he wanted to marry Emma Newburger. For her birthday that month, he gave her a journal full of notes and photos capturing their relationship so far.
“For your birthday, I got you this love story,” he wrote in it. “I think it’s just getting started.”
Since then, they’ve used the shared notebook to write each other affectionate notes.
Four years later, Mr. Higgins wrote out a proposal in their shared journal and was waiting for the moment Ms. Newburger found it. One evening in December 2023, after setting up their Christmas tree in their Park Slope, Brooklyn, apartment, she reached for the journal to make an entry and saw the note. “We spent hours crying,” Ms. Newburger said.
They tied the knot on July 12.
He (Almost) Broke the Family Rule
In August 2023, Kendyl Klein’s family got together for a birthday celebration for her father, who had turned 70 a few months before. They all gathered on a beach in Oxnard, Calif., to take family photos.
“We have a family rule: You can’t be in family photos unless you’re engaged or married,” Ms. Klein said. As they gathered for photos, the plan was for one of Ms. Klein’s siblings to tell Benjamin DiGiulio he couldn’t be in the photo. That was the cue for him to propose and the photographer to shoot.
Though Ms. Klein enforced the rule before her siblings could, he still managed to use the moment as an opportunity to propose and explain that as of that moment, he was officially a part of the family and could indeed be in the family photos. The photographer snapped the group shots with Mr. DiGiulio in the frame.
They were legally wed Oct. 4, 2024, and hosted a celebration Jan. 10.
He Sent Her a Video Via AirDrop
In August 2023, Naim Bhuiyan picked out fruits like durian and mangosteen at a local Chinese supermarket with Anna Zhang’s sister, Amy Cheung. Ms. Cheung taught him how to say a few words and phrases in Fuzhounese, a Chinese dialect, including, “Can I marry your daughter?”
He then went to her parents’ home with the delicacies and sat down with them in the kitchen, asking for their blessing. Because of the language barrier, what ensued was a confusing conversation. Ms. Cheung recorded videos of Mr. Bhuiyan the whole time — from buying the fruits to trying to learn the phrases and asking her parents for their blessing — and Mr. Bhuiyan made a sweet montage.
Then, at a sunset campfire at a resort in Lenox, Mass., he sent Ms. Zhang the video montage via AirDrop. She watched the video, cackling, while also wiping tears from her face. “You need to treat Anna good,” her mother said in Fuzhounese, with her sister translating. Mr. Bhuiyan nodded his head vigorously, “I promise I will,” he reassured her parents.
At the end of the video, a caption read: “Your parents gave permission. Now it’s up to you.”
On Sept. 21, the couple were married.
The Prophetic Illustration
During a weekend trip to Martha’s Vineyard for her 29th birthday, Melissa Lee went for a stroll to a lighthouse nearby with Skylar Gibson. There, she opened what she thought was her birthday gift.
She unwrapped a book of hand-drawn illustrations of their relationship. Mr. Gibson had commissioned his younger sister, Cassidy Gibson, an artist and graphic designer. As he flipped through the pages, Mr. Gibson recounted their love story and their adventures together: the apartment building where they met at as neighbors; their first date, walking through Manhattan’s Union Square Park; tandem biking around Versailles; boating on the French Riviera; riding a hot-air balloon over the Italian countryside; moving into their first home together; and the dinner parties they’ve hosted since.
As he continued telling their story, he flipped to the final page and revealed an illustration of him proposing, right where they were standing in front of the lighthouse. He looked at her and said, “And he realized she was the best thing that ever happened to him, and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.” He got down on one knee.
The couple married on Aug. 16.
He Stripped Naked
In December 2023, Arthur Espinoza created a romantic candlelit scene at his San Francisco apartment with Dr. Brandon Imp, with photos of their lives together lining the staircase. Mr. Espinoza stood at the top and started talking about their love, but Dr. Imp, upon returning from a long work day, was desperately in need of a restroom.
He did not realize the event was a proposal until the ring was presented. He was so overwhelmed and taken off guard that he ran to the bathroom, throwing off his grimy work clothes on the way before emerging soon after, naked, offering a resounding “yes.”
They celebrated afterward at their favorite dumpling restaurant around the corner with a few friends.
On Aug. 30, the couple were married.
A Medley of Memorable Music
John Nothaft and Sarah Berger, both classical musicians, met on Halloween in 2016 at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester. She was Wednesday Addams, he a taco.
The couple became engaged on Memorial Day, 2024. While relaxing in their apartment, Mr. Nothaft brought out his keyboard under the guise of practicing for an upcoming performance at a music festival. He is an organist, and she is a violinist.
Instead, he proceeded to play a medley of pieces — including the theme song to “The Addams Family” — that were meaningful to their relationship.
“When he finished playing, he dropped to one knee and asked me to marry him,” Ms. Berger said.
He Didn’t Want Her as a Girlfriend
In December 2023, Rodney Page was planning to propose to Jennifer Welch at the Carillon Historical Park in Dayton, Ohio, where she had taken him to see Christmas lights on their first date after reuniting decades after they were high school sweethearts. But then she told him she planned a dinner with friends. It was time for Plan B.
Ms. Welch was scrolling on her phone in her family room when Mr. Page sidled up to her and announced he didn’t want to be her boyfriend anymore. She said she stood up and started talking nervously as he dropped to one knee. “I would like you to be my fiancée,” he said.
Though he had to start and stop a few times because she would not stop talking, she eventually figured out what he was doing. It wasn’t in front of a famous Dayton landmark, but her living room proved to be just as special, she said.
They were married on April 19.
Romance in Grand Central Terminal
In November 2023, the weekend after Tommy Fitzpatrick had flown down to Miami to ask Allegra Hanlon’s father for his blessing, he tricked Ms. Hanlon into thinking they would be headed to a hike in New York’s Hudson Valley. They met at the Grand Central Terminal clock tower, and in the middle of the chaos, Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” started playing from a speaker.
Ms. Hanlon looked up to see their parents and her friends holding letters on the balcony that read, “Will you marry me?” Strangers gathered around them and applauded.
“It was beautiful and magical,” Ms. Hanlon said. “Of course, I burst into tears and said yes.”
They were married in Miami on Jan. 18.
Their Dream House Was the Proposal
At the end of 2024, while on vacation in County Mayo, Ireland, Kathryn Scott and Patrick Oster learned from a friend who is a real estate agent that their dream house in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., was going on the market.
The structure, built in 1907, was once a Japanese teahouse and a speakeasy during Prohibition. They had been peeking at it through a wrought-iron gate for several years.
“I said, ‘We want it — we’ll top the highest bid,’” Mr. Oster said. “We did the whole thing from Ireland, no inspection. When we got here, there were all sorts of surprises. ‘Oh, look at that — we have a pantry, we have a balcony, we have a hot tub, a second fireplace.’”
On their first visit to the house after the purchase, in October 2024, Mr. Oster turned to Ms. Scott and said it would be a great place to get married. She responded that she’d been thinking the same thing.
“That was the proposal, I guess,” Ms. Scott said. They celebrated with champagne.
The couple was married at their dream home on June 21.
Reminiscing and Planning on a Cork Globe
“The dark, post-holiday time is usually a slog for us,” Parker Krug said. So in January 2024, he set aside some time with Jared Moffett in their Manhattan apartment to plan their next vacation.
He pulled out a cork globe as a fun way to mark places they’ve been to and want to go. They went through and recalled the trips they had taken together: Croatia, Italy, Puerto Rico, Portugal.
They each placed red pins one at a time. Then they had a few ideas of where they’d go next, placing a few green pins in countries in Asia and Europe.
Then, Mr. Krug pulled out a ring from his pocket, grabbed a white pin and said, “I can’t wait to go to these places, but the next trip I want to plan with you is the rest of our lives.”
Sadiba Hasan reports on love and culture for the Styles section of The Times.
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