Marriage Proposal in Venice

A work colleague of mine proposed to his wife on a gondola at dusk (in hastily learned Italian). Whilst his wife didn't understand a lot of Italian she certainly got the gist of what he was trying to ask her (I suppose the ring may have been a giveaway). He'd booked them into a very romantic restaurant on the Grand Canal which the Gondola dropped them at. The waiters had been notified of the impending proposal and treated them like royalty.

By the way - I just remembered another friend who proposed to his wife whilst they were sitting on the bed in their Venice hotel room bathing their very sore feet in a bucket after a long day of sightseeing. She also thought that this was pretty romantic too. I don't think you can go wrong anywhere in Venice to be honest.

Daneille's friend's plan sounds good to me. We found our honeymoon gondola ride to be so romantic, that we took another (totally busting the budget) the next night!

I saw a Rudy Maxa TV program yesterday, where he suggested a gondola ride and a place to get the gondola, that were more quiet and secluded than the usual San Marco stops.

You could probably search for the program and find his suggested location.

Can you afford a balcony on the Grand Canal? That would be a lovely way to propose, too.

A proposal on a gondola on one of the smaller canals, NOT on the Grand Canal, near the time of sunset when the beautiful colors are playing on the old Venice buildings...

In the evening orchestras play in San Marco square and if it's not too crowded you might get a romantic moment there while dancing under the starlight...

There's one retaurant where the food is okay but if you reserve a table in the evening for dinner right outside, it's on the gondola route as the serenading singers ride by in the gondolas, a very romantic moment to remember always...I think it was Ristorante alla Rampa, ask at your hotel...it wasn't far from the dorsuduro area of Venice...

I agree that a sunset proposal on one of the smaller canals would be ideal. My husband and I renewed our wedding vows the same way and it was ultra romantic and special. The nice thing with a gondola is that it's unique to Venice and will make it all that more memorable, IMO.

After the gondola ride, you could arrange to take the sleek private launch (free of charge) across the lagoon to Hotel Cipriani and have a nice, romantic dinner there. It's a beautiful place with superb food, ambiance and service.

Whatever you decide, good luck in your plans!