12 Times People Tried to Be Romantic, but Everything Went Terribly Wrong

In the pursuit of love, numerous individuals have meticulously arranged heartfelt surprises, only to witness their romantic endeavors take unforeseen turns. Whether due to innocent mishaps or significant disappointments, certain gestures have either strengthened or strained relationships. Regardless of the result, some have chosen to disclose their romantic misadventures on the internet.

• I emptied my wardrobe cabinet, and filled the cabinet portion of it and placed on the shelf flowers, chocolate, a stuffed bear, and numerous candy that she loved. When I told her to get my “hoodie” out of the cabinet, she opened it and said, “It’s not here”, and then proceeded to close the cabinet. © TheNote7 / Reddit
• I was walking around at recess with my life-or-death crush, Christina, in 5th grade. I’d been planning this moment for weeks. She was a small girl. I told her she reminded me of strawberry shortcake. She asked why, and I responded, “Because you’re short and sweet.” She did not respond, and I’m still dead inside. © ikkyu666 / Reddit

• Decided to make a bold move with a close lady friend. Invited her over for a home cooked meal on Valentine’s Day in my awful college apartment, since neither of us were seeing anyone (pretty smooth, right? I thought so). So I cook a pork loin and some pasta, and purchased an expensive $12 drink. “She’ll be here any minute,” I kept telling myself. At around 9PM, I texted her. She let me know that she assumed the invite was a joke. She did eventually sheepishly show up! We are now married, and I remind her of this every Valentine’s Day. © dumpsterKraken / Reddit
• I got painting lessons for a girlfriend because she was getting into painting. She took it to mean that I thought her painting sucked. She never took the lessons and I never got my money back. © ccasella3 / Reddit
• After the date I dropped her off in the parking lot where her car was parked, we said goodbye and no kiss, it was our first date. She got out and began walking across the parking lot and I suddenly got the courage to whip my car around, stop right in front of her, get out, and kiss her. In my head, it was like something out of a film. In person, I pulled up to her, forgot to put it in park, got out, walked away from the car, she looked at me horrified and pointed; I turned around and ran towards my car as it slammed into another parked car. Just a typical day in my life, really. © Unknown user / Reddit

• To celebrate our fifth Valentine’s Day together, I was going to replicate our first meal together over candlelight. It was Banquet chicken patties with marinara sauce and mozzarella melted on top, with pasta and a Dole bag salad. In the days leading up to it, when she asked what I was going to do, I told her I’d make a special meal. She laughed and said, “Probably just make the same food we did years ago or something dumb.” So, needless to say, I went to plan B. But for the record, my wife is a very sweet lady. She was laughing about me being predictable, and not just being mean. © lotus38 / Reddit
• I made a huge plan to ask my crush to prom. Made signs to her house asking her but didn’t put up a name saying who did it. Well, turns out her neighbor had a crush too and took credit for it. She said yes to him. Nobody believed I did it, and they’re now married. © AlexDawdy / Reddit
• Had a girlfriend come live with me after being in a not so great situation for nearly a year in another state. Was planning for 8 months to have a dress she had been dying to get waiting for her under the Christmas tree when she arrived because she hadn’t had the cash for groceries, let alone a nice dress. So, she got super excited when she saw the box and opened it right away. I bought the wrong dress. She appreciated the effort though and wore it for fancy events. I ended up getting her the correct dress for her birthday a while later. Now we laugh about it. © N4g4rok / Reddit

• My ex and I were to get married in 18 days, and we were really stressed out about the wedding. So I left work early, got a bunch of things, cooked dinner, set up a little scavenger hunt of memories to remind her of why we’re together, which then lead her to the dinner table with her favorite meal with candles. She then broke up with me, lied about why she did it. And I found out a few weeks later that the reason we were having trouble was not wedding related. It was because she was with someone else. © throwyoworkaway / Reddit
• I took my ex to Paris. I had the whole weekend planned. We went to the Eiffel Tower at night, had a picnic, basically did it all. She dumped me two weeks later. She said I “wasn’t romantic enough” and didn’t tell her I loved her enough when we were in Paris. OK. © JLisTheTruth / Reddit
• For my first anniversary, I cooked my wife a four-course meal from our four most significant dates. It started with barbecue from our first date, then crab from the time she visited me at the beach with a side of green Jell-O for all the aloe vera she had to slather on me. Next, a banana milkshake from our Amsterdam trip, and it ended with chocolate cake from the restaurant where I proposed. As a joke, I bought a rubber rat and put it on the plate with the barbecue because that restaurant got shut down a few months after our date due to a rodent infestation. Eventually, that rat was all she ever talked about regarding that dinner. © Thompson_S_Sweetback / Reddit

• I was oblivious that my husband was proposing to me. We were headed out on a trip, and he asked me to check the center console in his car for a specific CD. I did and closed it, and he was at this point kneeling next to me while I sat in the passenger seat. He asked me to look again, and I did, saying, “CD isn’t here,” and closed it. Annoyed, he asked me again, and I’m now annoyed, thinking I told him the CD wasn’t in there. He told me to look closer, and then I realized there was a gray box to the side. I pulled it out and said, “What’s this?” He had to open it before I realized what was happening. © daniyellidaniyelli / Reddit

As we’ve seen, people can have very different understandings of romance. For example, the heroine in our other article was surprised when her boyfriend suggested taking her for a Brazilian waxing as a romantic date.