A man has been praised for proposing to his long-term girlfriend at his grandmother's funeral, despite leaving some family members stunned. The story, shared on Reddit by a mourner, reveals that the grandmother had disapproved of the relationship for years because his partner was of a different race, even threatening to cut him out of her will if they married.
Proposal at the funeral home
Determined to make a statement, the grandson stood up to thank everyone for attending before unexpectedly getting down on one knee at the funeral home. He reportedly began his speech by saying: "Grandma said we would get married over her dead body." According to the mourner, "Grandma was very openly racist although she would disagree. The grandson had been in a relationship with someone from another race for a while, and grandma said she would write him out of the will if they got married."
Over the years, the grandmother's attitude shifted from open hatred to toleration and eventually what seemed like friendship with the fiancée, but she still stood in the way. Despite the unusual setting, many people online praised the proposal. One Reddit user commented: "That's funny as f***." Another said: "That's beautiful." A third added: "I went from appalled to thoroughly happy. This is perfect."
Another funeral proposal ends in rejection
This is not the only proposal to have taken place at a funeral. A 25-year-old man recalled proposing at his girlfriend's mother's funeral, but the outcome was very different. He explained that his girlfriend's mother disapproved of him due to a five-year age gap. After dating for two years, he decided to propose at the wake, thinking "life is too short" to wait.
He said: "I had been planning on proposing to her for quite some time now and I could never really figure out what the right time really was. It was obvious that her mother didn't approve of me due to our small age gap... so there was no way in hell that she would end up approving us getting married."
Her mother had been diagnosed with stage-four breast cancer and spent her final weeks with family. He added: "Whenever I was standing over her casket with my girlfriend hanging onto my arm, I looked down at her mother and thought to myself 'This is it, I'm going to ask her today'."
A couple of hours into the wake, he took his girlfriend aside and delivered his prepared speech, then got down on one knee. However, his grieving girlfriend turned down his proposal, condemning him for his insensitive timing. He said: "I looked at her confused, not really processing what was wrong with the moment. If anything this could of been a metaphor of sorts, right? Her mum dies so suddenly and now I'm here proposing over the prospect of 'life is too short', 'you only live once' and making the most of it."
He later acknowledged: "I guess I can see how I would be the a***hole due to the dirt still being fresh but honestly I couldn't see a better moment than right then because we were finally free of her mother's judgement."
