What If They Say No?

It can happen that a marriage proposal is refused. When that happens, my first priority is the well-being of my client.

To date, I have not had any proposal where the question “Will you marry me?” was answered with “No,” or “Let me think about it.”

It may happen. It may happen because the relationship is still too new or the person feels very self-conscious being out in public. Or, you thought they were ready to take it to the next step and they are not.

In any event, let me tell you what I will do:

Quietly gather my gear and leave.

My thought is that at that moment, you will be experiencing a mixture of confusion, embarassment, maybe some anger, and disappointment. The last thing you will want is me coming up to you to offer condolences. You have them, my condolences, okay? I am sorry that it did not work out for you - and I am certainly willing to commiserate and talk about it later, if you want to. Otherwise, I think you have enough to deal with at that moment.

If, however, you wnat me to do something alternatively, let me know. If I need to excuse myself to another location and wait for some time, schedule pemitting I can do that. What matters to me most is you, my client.

If, in fact, that happens, here is my refund policy: I will keep the initial deposit and refund you the remaining balance, less anything that had to be paid out of pocket, e.g., a site fee or additional expenses such as arranging for flowers or a bottle of wine to be on hand. I might be out gas money and time, but something like this happens so rarely - if it will at all - I feel there is no need to rub any more salt into the wound.