People who are ready to pop the question have been waiting for this moment for a significant amount of time.
The feeling and timing are right. But there's one important detail left to figure out before the big lead-up.
"What is her ring size?"
And therein lies the dilemma of how to find out this information.
Curious to hear sneaky tactics to achieve the goal of putting a ring on it, Redditor Best_Expression_1860 asked:
"What is the best way to get a woman’s ring size without her knowing?"
Family Knows
"I asked via her sister. She’s smart. She started a conversation about how she was getting a ring for herself and asked her sister (my now wife) for advice on what she should get, and then slowly made it in to a finger measuring contest on who had the thinner finger."
– Freak_Out_Bazaar
"See, I did this and the sister just asked 'hey what’s your ring size? Your boyfriend wanted to know.'”
– Soulfighter56
"I asked her best friend and sister-in-law and they did great spy work for me, for both ring size and style."
– onlyfakeproblems
"I asked my wife's sister too. Except I measured the sister's finger because they're both so similar in size that I figured I'd at least get close on the ring size. Turns out I was only half a size off."
– Wagglyfawn
A Little Help From My Friends
"My wife’s sister is way on the spectrum and I love her but even if she was trying to be subtle it would just basically be her saying 'what’s your wedding ring finger size?' So I went best friend route."
– loneiguana888
Calling For Reinforcements
"My husband asked my girlfriends to help out. One night at dinner the married ones passed their rings around and we all tried them on, and then they let him know which size was the one that fit me haha."
"He also had one of them send me photos of different rings to see which style I liked. I had no idea she was feeding him info! My ring is beautiful and fits perfectly :)"
– Zoonivers
"I did something similar. I took my now wife on a double date with my best friends, who are married to each other. My wife used to work at a jewelry store so she 100% knew her ring size. The friend started talking about how she needed to get her ring resized and, while trying to help, my now wife mentioned her own ring size."
– UrdnotZigrin
Misreading Signals
"I asked my fiancée’s friend to help out. That included going to the jeweler with me since they have the same size finger and skin tone…"
"It turned into a massive fight when my fiancée thought I was cheating on her with her friend 🙃"
"Which… fair. We were being sneaky… but it was for a good cause! (It all worked out in the end)"
– betterpinoza
Seizing On An Opportunity
"My then girlfriends had a lot of rings and I just took one and brought in to the jewelry store."
– rndmcmder
Clandestine Mission
"My girlfriend had a few rings, I basically went full Tom Cruise - Mission impossible and stole one of her rings when I was at her place."
"And took that ring with me to the store to match the size."
"A few weeks later I had Mission impossible part 2 to 'unsteal' the ring without her knowing."
"Engagement ring fitted perfectly."
– GTAinreallife
"Mission Impossible style is risky."
"Colleague decided the time was right, borrowed a ring from his then-gf’s jewellery box and went shopping, then replaced the borrowed ring. Sly, right?"
"Except gf happened to look in the jewellery box that particular day, and immediately noticed the missing ring. My colleague was aware it was precious, but wasn’t aware it was a hotly contested family heirloom."
"He arrived home from a successful shopping trip, ready to plan the perfect proposal. He discovered wife-to-be in a brawl with her sister that had begun to turn physical. After he separated them, the story came out. Gf noticed the ring was missing and immediately 'knew' it was her sister."
"The ring wasn’t valuable, and it wasn’t an heirloom with a deep meaning or association with a family member. Just a pretty family object. Gf and sister have a strong rivalry, and the ring is something they both feel rightfully belongs to them."
"She sent a nicely worded but very blunt text stating the ring was hers, the sister had 24hrs to return it and gf wasn’t above getting the lawyers involved to regain possession."
"Sister, who was actually innocent in all this, took her outrage over the false allegation and combined it with her butt-hurtedness over not ending up with the ring. Words were exchanged, and the sister went to the gf’s house to continue the conflict. This is how my colleague found them."
"It ended okay (eventually) and she accepted his proposal. The sister gave one hell of a toast (roast?) at the wedding."
"My colleague’s subsequent advice to another colleague about proposing and rings was quite simply 'work out a way of including ring selection in the proposal and take her to pick her own ring.' ”
– Unstable_Ravioli
Simple Solution
"My boyfriend asked for all my sizes from shoes, bras, to rings. I know it’s supposed to be a surprise, but if marriage is your end goal, there's no reason you can’t just straight up ask!"
– meItedmilk
"IMO that you're planning on asking shouldn't be a surprise. It should be the when and where."
– EkkoGold
"I agree, everyone in my circle is on that same page about this. My best friend and her boyfriend went and bought her ring so they could be certain of the size and what she actually wanted. When he’ll pop the question is the real surprise."
"I have picked out my ring as well so that there are no hiccups, I just don’t want to know when he’ll ask me and I let him know I want the proposal to be private in our home. I think it sets a good foundation for great memories!"
– meItedmilk
Problem Solved
"Just ask her. Proposals that are a total surprise seem to tend to work out less than when couples are communicating."
"You don’t have to tell her when and how you’re doing it, and the proposal itself can still be a surprise, but it’s fine if she knows you’re ring shopping. Can give her a chance to let you know what kind of details she wants on her ring too."
– hockey17jp
"My fiancée and I had planned out the ring together and had several marriage discussions like adults. We created a custom ring. The actual proposal was the only surprise; she knew I had the ring but didn’t know when I’d do it!"
– dezradeath
Look Through Jewelry Collection
"Firstly:"
"Does she wear jewelry? yes? does she happen to wear a ring on her ring finger? hooooooot you can measure that one sneakily. As it happens, if anyone were to propose to me, my mom gave me a ring from my grandma that is exactly the right size. I usually wear it at formal events on the wrong hand."
"I have heard someone who asked a store employee to help trick his now wife: she ended up chatting up the girlfriend, made her try some random styles and later passed on the size."
"If the marriage has already been discussed, which is usually the most sensible thing to do- sort of like making sure you are on the same page of future plans: some people just straight up go ring shopping with their partner to get a sense of what they like, get a ring size, but then have the final ring and timing a surprise."
"If you are the type to ask her parents for blessings, you can enlist the mom or dad to help if you trust their ability to be sneaky about intentions."
– cirivere
The Shopping Ruse
"How I managed it, was pretended that I wanted to buy myself a ring, like a signet ring. So I bought a cheap ring size guide from Ebay and was just checking the size of all my fingers where she could see. Didn't even need to ask and she was trying it on all her fingers and got the size without any suspicion."
– Kooky-Bad-4636
There are so many options, but which scenario would apply best to your situation?