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Andrew Fox of New Castle, Pa., had it all planned. He would propose to his girlfriend, Heather Terwilliger of Fredonia, N.Y., Tuesday night during their first visit to Yankee Stadium as the Yankees played the Boston Red Sox.

He paid $100 to have his surprise appear on the scoreboard during the fifth inning. The cameras focused on the couple. She looked up, saw the proposal on the center field scoreboard and then saw him on bended knee. But then it went horribly wrong. He dropped the ring, which seemed to have slipped into the crevices of the stadium.

Those seated around the couple began looking for the ring, with a frantic Mr. Fox. One fan looked in her popcorn bucket. They looked under seats and in jacket pockets.

“I went from really happy and excited to the most depressed you can be in like a second,” Mr. Fox, 29, told The Daily News. “It probably only took about five minutes until it was found, but it was the worst five minutes of my life.”

It was Ms. Terwilliger, also 29, who found it. She had looked down, and there in the cuff of her jeans she saw something sparkle. He returned to his knee and the proposal was complete. She said yes.

I had always imagined how incredibly romantic it must have been when my father proposed to my mother. I pictured a romantic dinner at a nice restaurant, or maybe a beach at sunset. Perhaps even a “Will you marry me, Janis?” crawling across the scoreboard at a baseball game.

Alas, Dad is not, and has never been, romantic. I was disappointed when I found out he asked Mom at a grocery store. (“Asked” is a generous word considering his line was, “I got a diamond, you wanna?”)

“But what happened next?” I asked, hoping perhaps that they ditched the grocery store and met up with friends and family to celebrate. “We continued our day as normal, sat down and ate our salad lunches,” Mom said.

Apparently, this type of story is not uncommon. We asked our readers if they had any similar tales: awkward proposals where everything went wrong but it all worked out. Here is what they said. Their comments have been condensed and edited.

Angry Geese

It was the first day of spring and my (now) husband suggested a walk in nearby Willowbrook Park. As we strolled around the pond, I noticed he kept looking toward the ground, which was absolutely covered in goose poop. More than I had ever seen before or since. We had reached a spot he thought was clean enough and he got down on one knee, began his romantic proposal but was promptly interrupted by a goose attack. Just beyond the reeds were some nesting geese, and they had no time for young love. We ran and he finished the proposal in the car. Nine years later and I still giggle about it. — Laura Maio-Zimroth, Staten Island, N.Y.

The Answer Was in the Air

It was the perfect summer day. Impeccable weather. We had the day off. We drove out east and ended up on a private plane ride over the glorious Manhattan skyline. We lingered over the Brooklyn Bridge (where he first asked me out), and that’s when he popped the question. Suddenly, a wave of motion sickness hit me like a storm and I proceeded to vomit all over myself. Somewhere in-between I said, “Yes!” Thank goodness I had a spare dress in the car. — Laura D., New York

L-O-V-E, a 7-Point Score

My boyfriend planned a surprise trip to Montreal. I knew a proposal was coming, and I kept waiting, but nothing happened all day. We went back to our inn, and there was a Scrabble set on the bed (my favorite game) with a note from the innkeeper saying, “I remembered you liked playing Scrabble — here’s our set.” My boyfriend asked if I wanted to play and I said no. (I was waiting for him to propose.) Apparently, he thought I knew what was happening and was having second thoughts. So we stood and stared at each other and there were tears and an awkward silence, and then finally I said, “Oh, sure, let’s play Scrabble.” As I pulled out the board, I saw the proposal in tiles glued on the board. He got down on one knee. I was so flustered I made him propose twice. We’ve been married 10 years. — Jane Dimyan-Ehrenfeld, Silver Spring, Md.

One Whiskey Too Many, Then Dad Spills the Beans

Aaron and I had been together for a few years and were home from college to visit my parents. The plan was for Aaron to bond with my dad and go to the local bar in my hometown while my mom and I cooked up an elaborate dinner for the whole family. We finished cooking, and my extended family arrived. Finally, three hours later, my father and Aaron stumbled in. One whiskey had turned into three or four. We sat down to dinner, and my mom said, “Well, you two sure had a good time at the bar.” My dad looked up and had tears in his eyes. He said, “Aaron asked me for Molly’s hand in marriage.” I choked on my food. It was silent, and then the table erupted in cheers. Aaron held on to the ring for a few months, just to surprise me. Poor guy. — Molly M., Clark, N.J.

Muffled Words

In November 2005, Stephen suggested a last-minute trip to Paris. The evening after we arrived, we rode the Métro to the Champs-Élysées. When we got out, he asked me to sit on a bench with him. I said: “No thanks, I was sitting on the Metro for a long time. I’m fine.” Finally, he gets me to sit. It’s cold, I’m wearing a parka and big earmuffs, and suddenly he’s down on one knee saying something, but I can’t hear. I assume he’s lost something, so I get off the bench to help him look. Before I get on my hands and knees, though, I realize he’s beaming and holding something in the dark that I can’t quite make out. “What is happening?” I pull off my earmuffs and ask him what he’s holding, and he says, “My great-grandmother’s engagement ring.” Turns out Stephen had just proposed — and I had missed the whole thing. I asked him to do it all over again and, this time, I didn’t wear the earmuffs. We’ve been happily married for 10 years, partly because I have sworn off earmuffs. — Rachel Nagler Garrett, New York

That Wet-Dog Smell Was in the Air

My boyfriend and I were on a hiking trip at Zion National Park in Utah. It was a pretty intense hike, but he kept saying to me, if I make it to the top he has a present for me. This was just making me angry. I was concentrating on the hike and he was playing games. Fast forward, we came back home to L.A. from our beautiful hiking trip and some fun in Las Vegas. He said he was going to give our dog, Newman, a bath (which means he has to get in the shower with him to bathe him — don’t ask). I said I was going to call my mom. Shortly after, he starts calling my name and screaming at me to come look at Newman. I said: “You’re being so rude. I’m on the phone.” But of course, I went into the bathroom, opened the shower curtain, and found a wet dog and a naked man on his knee with a ring in hand. Newman took a run for it, I said yes and couldn’t be happier. — Danielle Harris, Los Angeles

After a Burglary, He Stole Her Heart

We had just been robbed and were sitting in a cafe. Teenagers had broken into our apartment and they had stolen my camera, my girlfriend’s computer, clothes and much of my girlfriend’s priceless family jewelry. I was on my laptop, and she was using my smartphone because she didn’t own one at the time. We were Googling, “What do you do after you’ve been robbed?” That’s when she got a text from my mother. It read, “Did they take the diamond?” She didn’t know what to make of it. She didn’t own a diamond. “What does this mean?” she asked, showing me the text. My heart sank. I tried to think of lies but nothing was believable. So I told the truth. “Well, it’s a thing that exists …” I hadn’t finished my sentence before she burst out, “Yes! Yes, I do!” I’d never seen her look more beautiful. “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I said, “I haven’t asked you yet.” But I knew I had. They had not, in fact, taken the diamond. I’d kept it in a safe deposit box. — Josh Morrison, Los Angeles

Two Proposals Meld Into One

We planned to propose to each other, and it happened to be on the same weekend. We each didn’t know what the other was planning, but my partner’s sister did know of each of our plans. While attending a young-adult church camp, she brought us in front of everyone during the annual auction and said, “You both have something to say to each other.” My partner shared a poem, and as he was pulling the ring out of his pocket. I screamed “Oh, man, I was planning this too.” We both got on one knee to put each other’s ring on as our audience laughed and cried. — Frankie D., Los Angeles