Unsuspecting Bride Wears Her Engagement Ring for Months Before the Proposal

Hiding an engagement ring before a surprise proposal is a very traditional groom move, whether it's a ring box tucked under the socks in a top drawer, a 3-carat rock dropped in a glass of Champagne, or a brilliant bauble presented inside a piece of chocolate cake. But Australian Terry Dougherty created an even more elaborate hiding spot for the ring he chose for his fiance, Anna: He made her a necklace with a secret spot to hold the ring, and then gave it to her more than a year before he proposed. That's right -- for months, Anna had no idea she was wearing her own engagement ring around her neck.

Good Housekeeping UK interviewed Terry, who explained that he carved a wooden pendant out of native Tasmanian Huon pine wood to give to Anna on their first anniversary. "She absolutely loved it," he said. "She wore it every day and everywhere we went, and pretty much never took it off."

When Terry was ready to propose a year and a half later, in November 2016, in Scotland, he asked Anna to take the necklace off so he could photograph it. While she wasn't paying attention, he opened the sealed pendant to access the ring, still secure in the custom hiding spot he'd made for it.

Though Anna had no idea she'd been wearing the ring all along, the location of the proposal could have given her a hint: "I picked Smoo Cave because it was a place we had talked about visiting since we first met," said Terry, "and 'smoo' comes from an old Norse word for 'hiding place', so I think I get extra points for that one."

Via Good Housekeeping