--- title: Rejecting Marriage Proposal: Study of top 5 reasons people say no description: Key takeaway: if you want them to say yes, choose a romantic setting canonical: https://time.com/3549609/marriage-proposal-rejection-reasons/ author: Samantha Grossman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-30T21:16:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:14:14.028Z og:title: These Are the Top 5 Reasons People Reject Marriage Proposals og:description: Key takeaway: if you want them to say yes, choose a romantic setting og:url: https://time.com/3549609/marriage-proposal-rejection-reasons/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7ac396b036a413b/6987639b524fc04507dea280/160677865.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5134 og:image:height: 2888 og:image:alt: Marriage proposal og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These Are the Top 5 Reasons People Reject Marriage Proposals twitter:description: Key takeaway: if you want them to say yes, choose a romantic setting twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7ac396b036a413b/6987639b524fc04507dea280/160677865.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # These Are the Top 5 Reasons People Reject Marriage Proposals > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=393181dd-9b8a-4843-8bf9-e2f612dbb362&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Oct 30, 2014 9:16 PM UTC  Man Proposing To Woman On Knee Man Proposing To Woman On Knee Getty Images by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Oct 30, 2014 9:16 PM UTC If you’re thinking of proposing to someone soon, then you’re presumably hoping they will say yes. Or, better, yet, “Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes!” or some other dramatic thing. If that’s the case, a recent study conducted by [VoucherCloud ](http://www.vouchercloud.net/)about why people choose to reject proposals might be of use to you. The company surveyed 2,144 American residents, both male and female, who were 21 years or older and had previously rejected a proposal, Bustle [reports](http://www.bustle.com/articles/46763-rejected-marriage-proposals-the-top-5-reasons-people-say-no-to-getting-engaged). The participants didn’t have to choose one specific reason — instead, they were asked for all the factors that contributed to their rejection. These were the five most reasons: 1. **Unromantic proposal setting:** 67 percent 2. **Poor ring choice:** 53 percent 3. **Bad wording of the proposal:** 51 percent 4. **Lack of trust in the relationship:** 39 percent 5. **Scared of the commitment:** 36 percent These results may seem a bit surprising. The reasons seem fairly: poor ring choice? Lame location? “As much as it seems silly to turn down the big question because the cost isn’t high enough, it’s important to remember that getting engaged is a huge moment in your life,”VoucherCloud’s Matthew Wood told Bustle. “It’s an investment and should be treated as such.” Of course, he added that there “are ways to make a person feel special during a proposal without going bankrupt.” So, take all of this with a grain of salt, of course, but it couldn’t hurt to pick an extra romantic proposal location. Just in case. ([h/t Bustle](http://www.bustle.com/articles/46763-rejected-marriage-proposals-the-top-5-reasons-people-say-no-to-getting-engaged)) _Read next:_ [_This Ridiculously Romantic Ad Aims to End Divorce_](http://time.com/3542053/this-ridiculously-romantic-ad-aims-to-end-divorce/?xid=time%5Freadnext) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3549609/marriage-proposal-rejection-reasons/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3549609/marriage-proposal-rejection-reasons/"},"headline":"These Are the Top 5 Reasons People Reject Marriage Proposals","datePublished":"2014-10-30T21:16:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:14:14.028Z","description":"Key takeaway: if you want them to say yes, choose a romantic setting","url":"https://time.com/3549609/marriage-proposal-rejection-reasons/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Marriage","Dating","relationships","Weddings","Proposal","engagement"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7ac396b036a413b/6987639b524fc04507dea280/160677865.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7ac396b036a413b/6987639b524fc04507dea280/160677865.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Marriage proposal","caption":"160677865","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3549609/marriage-proposal-rejection-reasons/","name":"These Are the Top 5 Reasons People Reject Marriage Proposals"}}]}] ```