This may seem like a no-brainer for some, but many times these things are overlooked. You do not want to overlook anything when it comes to marriage proposals. Think of marriage as an investment - an investment in life, your future, and your family's future. Make the wrong choices early on, and that can spell disaster.

So you want to get engaged? Well for starters, congratulations! Now let us make sure that congratulations is in order and that you have all your bases covered. When you think about engagements, what is usually the first thing that comes to mind? The ring.

Make sure you have the ring when you propose. While there are people out there who have proposed without having the engagement ring, it takes away from the moment and the effect. No matter what she tells you, no matter how many times you have heard "Baby, I would marry you if you gave me a ring from a cracker jack box", do not mistake that for what she wants, and that is a ring when you propose. You see guys, you need to understand that this marriage proposal means something completely different to your girlfriend. It is a moment in life that she has been waiting for since she was a little girl. She has thought about this in depth, has planned it different ways in her mind as to how she would like it to happen. And every time she thinks about it, it always ends up with you giving her a beautiful diamond ring.

You have the rest of your life to be together, you will probably have months, if not a year or more, until the actual wedding date after you propose. So do yourself a favor and do not rush this. Get the ring first. You do not even want to plan a huge proposal prior to receiving the ring because you never know what might happen. You could end up not getting the ring in time which means the entire event has gone to waste. The last thing you want is to look like you cannot plan a simple proposal. Trust me, this looks very bad on your part.