On the jumbotron or at Times Square, the woman always seems surprised when her special someone pops the question in front of a live audience. But not every proposal is completely unexpected.

“We started talking about it very late in 2014 because we had gone to weddings back to back in October that year,” said Sheena (Ekas) Carl of Saxonburg.

She and Gregory Carl married last year, but they met much earlier at what was then the Mellon Arena.

“We ran into each other on July 22, 2009. I was in Pittsburgh and we were at a Green Day concert,” Sheena said.

“We dated for eight years in July and we got married in August,” she said.

Greg popped the question while on one knee in March 2016.

His nephew was scheduled for a kidney transplant in Pittsburgh. He and Sheena booked a hotel in Shadyside to be near the hospital. Unfortunately, the donor, also a nephew, developed strep throat so the (successful) surgery was delayed. The Carls decided to take the weekend in the city anyway.

Sheena was nearly dripping wet when Greg knelt on one knee and officially proposed.

“I took a shower and I came out and was drying my hair,” she said.

She asked for the glass of champagne she had been drinking earlier.

“I tipped the glass and felt movement,” Sheena said. “I put it down and saw it. It was floating at the bottom.”

The ring she picked earlier sat in the champagne. They had visited every jewelry store in a mall near Pittsburgh.

“He took pictures of the ones I liked,” Sheena said.

She had ideas of what she wanted, but then she saw the perfect ring.

“It was almost everything I said I didn't want,” Sheena said.

The ring includes rose gold and has a square of diamonds set surrounding a central diamond. The matching wedding band also has rose gold and diamonds, including chocolate diamonds.

Richard Kotch's proposal to Mary Ann Budzyn led to a lasting marriage. The couple, who live in Renfrew, celebrated their 60th anniversary in November.

They met on his birthday in April 1957 at a dance in Wilkes-Barre. They lived in the area. She was dating someone else at the time but the fellow was away in the service.

Soon after the dance, Richard saw her walking to work one day, called her at her department store job and asked her for a date.

Richard worked in Harrisburg but continued visits home on weekends and on her 21st birthday in August they became engaged.

Although her mother was surprised by Richard asking for Mary Ann's hand in marriage, Mary Ann wasn't.

“I kind of had a feeling because it was kind of love at first sight,” Mary Ann said. “We knew it was each other.”

Richard and Mary Ann shopped together for an engagement ring.

“Back then I don't know that we talked that much about the ring, what kind I liked,” Mary Ann said.

Conveniently, her brother worked in a jewelry store and that is where they bought a white gold engagement ring with a center diamond and two small diamonds alongside.

That same year, they married in November on his mother's birthday.

Richard and Mary Ann moved to Butler 51 years ago and then moved to Renfrew 16 years ago.

She still wears that ring. Five years ago, she had it reset into a gold band.

“It's been wonderful,” she said.

The Heltzells of Meridian just celebrated their 50th anniversary.

“Dave and I both are from Meridian. In fact, he was our paperboy. He delivered the Butler Eagle,” said Karen Heltzell.

Each time David collected the subscription fee, Karen was there.

“I always knew he was coming and I would hang around,” she said.

She also knew him from the church youth group but she wasn't allowed to go on dates alone with David until she was 16.

They started looking at engagement rings when she was 20 and he was 22.

They bought what they could afford.

“It's very plain and very simple,” Karen said. “Dave put it on layaway because we didn't exactly know when we were going to set the date.”

One night he took her to a restaurant across from the Butler County Courthouse. She thought he might propose.

“I had an inkling,” Karen said. “He had the ring and he asked me if I would marry him and I said, 'Yes, definitely.'”

Even so, he had to ask Karen's mother, who approved. Her mother also had to sign papers for the wedding license as Karen wasn't 21.

David had a college degree and Karen had graduated from nursing school by the time they married.

“We weren't allowed to get married until I was 21,” Karen said.

David joined the Army and the couple planned to marry after his service. At Fort Jackson, he changed his mind and wanted to get married sooner.

They set a date. It was postponed, but they did marry Dec. 12, 1967, and then left for his next station in Germany.

Karen still wears the engagement ring, never takes it off and doesn't wear any other ring with it, now that her wedding band is too snug.

“It isn't the same setting. I lost this diamond in my ring twice but I recovered it,” she said. “Now I have the diamond set deep into a different setting so it sits down securely.”

It is a solitaire setting in a gold band.

David still wears his wedding ring.

“He doesn't take his off either. He's a very sweet guy,” she said.

“It doesn't seem like 50 years,” Karen said. “Life is good ... we're blessed.”