How to Ask Your Girlfriend's Father for Her Hand in Marriage

Have you found the girl of your dreams? Ask your girlfriend's father for her hand in marriage by following these steps.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Fresh-cut Flowers
• Champagne
• Diamond Engagement Set
• Wedding Bands
• Dinner Reservations
• Spiral Notebooks
• Writing Pens

1. Be prepared. Think about what you'll say to your girlfriend's father before you arrange to talk with him.

2. Ask for a few minutes to speak to him in private or in the presence of your girlfriend. Unless distance prohibits a personal meeting, arrange to discuss the matter with him face to face.

3. Present yourself in a positive light to make a good impression, show your respect for him, and reflect on the seriousness of the issue.

4. Explain the depth of your feelings for his daughter and inform him that she is the most important person in the world to you.

5. Put yourself in his place. How would you feel about entrusting your little girl's heart to another man? Tell him about the plans you've made for a future with his daughter. Assure him that you will do everything you can to make her happy for the rest of your lives.

6. Assure him that you realize marriage is a serious issue with serious responsibilities, and that you have given serious consideration to the matter of marrying his daughter.

7. Respectfully ask for your girlfriend's hand in marriage.

Tips & Warnings

• You'll probably earn points with your girlfriend's father by the mere act of asking for her hand in marriage. Asking his permission to marry his daughter demonstrates your respect for her family and their feelings.

[MetaSteve]

on 12/19/2007 Lots of girls can have traditional values these days and still be hip and cool... You girls who are upset at this should relax and understand that your father is not "giving you away" - it's his last chance to talk with the person who you will be sharing your life with and wants to make sure his intentions are honerable. Anyone who is "offended" by this notion is afriad that they are NOT their own person and seems a bit insecure. I have 2 daughter and better believe that I will want to know a lot fo about the man who wants to marry them and what he has planned. They are worth it!

[sanelv]

on 11/15/2007 wow, I asking for my girl friend's father today. I am in Sri Lanka and some people here are overwhelmed with astrology crap. He knows me and we both move along nicely. I have given enough clues that I am about to ask for his daughters hand. But yesterday he came up with a proposal for her. I am really depressed. I have a good educational background and working on developing my own company. He knows about them. But is he waiting for me to ask him about that? The main reason here is that my girl is not willing to marry me without her fathers permission. It is the way it goes here in sri lanka. Can anyone have an idea???

[lilianna28]

on 10/9/2007 Ewww. Gross. My Dad doesn't own me, and there are better ways to show your respect for your future in-laws, like not thinking of their daughter as something to be "owned" or "passed on through the men folk." Ick.

If my daughter's boyfriend asked my husband for her hand in marriage, I'd have a serious talk with my kind about whether or not a person who asks for permission to, essentially, POSSESS her is really someone she wants to spend her life with. Seriously. gross.

[claricedurdan]

on 10/9/2007 If my boyfriend asked my father for "my hand" (as though it doesn't actually belong to ME), I would be totally mad. To be honest I think my dad would be worried that a misogynist wanted to marry me. My parents embody the working dad, stay-at-home mom dichotomy on the surface but they are both feminists. This is all just one more archaic "tradition" that needs to die already.

[Trugent1978]

on 2/2/2007 Some advice for the men! Make sure you bring the woman you want to marry to meet a woman in your life that you know, who knows you. It may be your mother or not, sometimes grandma is a great judge of character. Mine was never wrong and I am glad I listened to her in the end (I didnt at first, but the advice proved to be true). But make sure the mother figure in your life can talk with this woman. Remember there are things that women see that we as men overlook sometimes. And the answers may not be about her but about us. There may be something about the woman you want to marry, that you have been neglecting and the only person in your life that can set you straight is that motherly figure. Remember, it doesnt have to always be your mother. It may be a school teacher, counselor, aunt, neighbor, even a female best friend you have. One thing about life, is that you never go through it alone. You make the decisions but it is good to have reliable sources that can help you along the way. Make sure you find someone who can accept you for who you are. And talk about everything to how much you will be working at your job, how much sex you like (and what you like), to your addictions, habits, dreams, even if you leave the toilet seat up (ha ha).