Always know the answer

reports:

A hopeful groom-to-be suffered the most public of rejections when his proposal at a basketball game was blocked in front of hundreds of fans.

The young man got down on one knee at the UCLA game in California and pulled out a ring live on the stadium's “mistletoe cam” just before .

“I knew I was going to do the first day I met you, so I know this is going to sound corny but … will you marry me?” he said.

But rather than a happy yes, the young woman shook her head.

Her boyfriend could only watch in horror as she grabbed her bag and left the area to jeers from the crowd.

In politics there is a saying, that you should never ask a question that you do not already know the answer to.

I think the same should apply to proposals – or at least public marriage proposals.

A successful public marriage proposal can be sweet and endearing and a memory to last a lifetime. But you should not be doing it unless you are absolutely sure what the answer will be.