Last updated at 14:23, Monday, 05 March 2012

Getting engaged used to be a relatively simple affair.

The would-be groom would approach the father of his intended and ask for permission to marry the daughter.

There would be either a handshake or an unleashing of a shotgun and some large dogs.

If she was agreeable to the idea, they all lived happily ever after. Hopefully.

And now? All manner of bells and whistles are involved in popping the question.

The News & Star recently reported that Peter O’Donnell from Seaton took his girlfriend to New York, joined in a dance with a flashmob after secretly rehearsing the moves back home, then proposed.

Last week Nicola Meakin from Carlisle arranged to have a message projected onto Shaddon Mill showing a giant heart which read ‘Gareth, will you marry me? Nicola xx’.

Happily, both proposals were accepted.

The bar has been raised to dizzying heights.

How about a proposal during a deep-sea dive? What about on the first passenger flight in space?

Or perhaps future proposers will go back to the basics of a ring and a bended knee?

First published at 11:26, Monday, 05 March 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk