Cosmopolitan Bride Magazine Australia - Summer 2014-2015

THE
BOYS
Worldmags.net
Putting a
RING ON IT
The proposal, the parents, the bling – asking
someone to marry you is a pretty big deal. Three
grooms share their own nail-biting experiences…
ASKING THE DAD BY LEE MCGURREN
Lee became fluent in
Turkish to ask Dilvin’s
dad about marrying her.
“I knew quite early in my relationship
with Dilvin that I wanted to spend the
rest of my life with her. In fact, just six
months into our relationship, I took her
to Paris and I would have proposed right
then and there – had it not been for the
fact that she had made it abundantly clear
that it would only ever be able to happen
if I had asked her father, Nihat, for her hand
in marriage first. I didn’t have a ring and
I didn’t have clearance so I didn’t propose
– but I did come away with a plan.
Dilvin’s family is Turkish and although
they’re not the most traditional family,
they still follow certain customs. I thought
the best way of winning Dilvin’s dad over
wasn’t just by asking for her hand, but by
doing it entirely in Turkish. To that end,
I enrolled in Turkish school and while I
saved up for the ring, I attended weekly
classes where I would sit with the teacher
and practise what I was going to say to
Dilvin’s dad. I think by making the speech
in their native language, I was, in a way,
hoping they would see that I loved their
daughter so much that I was willing to
learn their language and adopt their
culture. But talk about added pressure!
When Dilvin’s dad saw me shaking at
the front door holding chocolates and
flowers, he knew immediately what I was
up to. He was wearing a tracksuit when he
answered the door, but once he realised
why I was there, he sat me on the couch
and disappeared for ten minutes while I
sweated it out. When he emerged, he was
dressed in a sharp suit. ‘In our culture,
this is serious business, Lee,’ he said as
he took my chocolates and sat opposite me.
‘I need to look the part.’ It added a touch
of light relief to the occasion and suddenly
everything came tumbling out of me. In
perfect Turkish I said I loved his daughter
madly and wanted to be by her side for the
rest of my days if he would honour me with
his permission. He just stared at me for a
moment, shocked that I’d become so fluent.
Overcome with emotion, he left the room
suddenly. I didn’t quite know what to do.
When he came back into the room, he
simply said, ‘How can I say no to that?’
He was back in his tracksuit.”
208 COSMOPOLITANBRIDE.com.au