In honor of 'Proposal Day': Engagement by the numbers
Ten surprising facts about putting a ring on it.
If you're planning to pop the question, today's a special day: National Proposal Day. John Michael O'Loughlin invented the unofficial holiday, which falls on March 20, to encourage the act of getting down on one knee. He was inspired after seeing his cousin's boyfriend string her along for years.
To help ring in Proposal Day (pun totally intended), we've compiled some stats and facts about getting engaged. Have a read, and, if you feel so inspired — put a ring on it.
More on MSN Living: GQ's foolproof guide to online dating
28: Twenty-eight percent of women say "no" if they don't like the ring. C'mon, ladies. It's about the guy, not the gold. At least say "Try again."
26.9: Median age at a woman's first marriage. For men, it's 28.9.
16: The average engagement lasts sixteen months. Which seems like a long time until you start planning the wedding.
$5,431: Average engagement ring cost.
More on MSN Living: Men reveal 7 biggest first date complaints
20: Percentage of engaged couples who break it off before the wedding. Sad, but true.
60: Sixty percent of couples cohabitate before marriage. Studies have also found that living together before marriage is no longer the "divorce predictor" that it used to be.
76: Percentage of guys who believe that, per tradition, a man should get down on one knee when proposing.
83: Eighty-three percent of men would not wear an engagement ring — even if it were called a "man-gagement" ring.
17: Seventeen percent of women think it's tacky to post a photo of one's engagement ring on Facebook. We can only imagine what they think of using it as a profile pic.
6: Six percent of men propose over the phone. We imagine it goes something like this:
"Will u marry me?"
"K"
More from The Heart Beat:
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A school that teaches wives to be mistresses
China's 'fake-marriage market' a growing trend
Sources:
http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=bkmk
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2004-06-20/features/0406200449_1_brides-destination-wedding-magnificent-mile
http://blog.theknot.com/2013/03/07/average-wedding-cost-2013/
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2003-07-16/news/0307170290_1_brides-rachel-safier-wedding
http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Family/2012/0322/Cohabitation-before-marriage-It-s-no-greater-divorce-risk
http://www.menshealth.com/sex-women/wedding-proposals
http://ezinearticles.com/?Interesting-Engagement-Statistics&id=5529611
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