The truth about preparing to pop the question

He's not just Fitzy and Wippa's newsreader or a panellist for The Morning Show, FOX Sports, and the ABC – Matt de Groot is also Be's newest columnist. He'll be taking us on a deep dive into the world of dating and relationships... from a guy's perspective.

I am writing this article on Thursday. It gets published on Sunday. I am proposing to my girlfriend on Friday.

Which means that when you read this I will either be engaged, or single – I doubt there’ll be an in between. S**t!

What a thing to say out loud.

Obviously I wouldn’t be asking if I thought we’d be coming back a "no", but I’d imagine no one asks expecting a knock-back, and yet it’s happened many times, so it is possible.

Regardless of what has transpired by now, the process has been the most exciting and often surreal of my life.

It is genuinely cool to have walked in the shoes that many many many men have walked in before me.

I’ll start by saying I love love. I really do. The Disney kind, you know, where champagne falls from the sky, birds are singing, and trumpets are playing from balconies. That kind of love.

I’ve never understood people that don’t think that is achievable or realistic, because that’s all I’ve ever realistically wanted to achieve.

And in my girlfriend/fiancée/possible-ex I have that person; every time I see her I get butterflies in my stomach. It’s a sickening thing to think about when you consider I am a 6’4” giant man.

I also wanted a kick-ass proposal story.

Setting the proposal wheels in motion is a weird one; there’s no book on how to do it, or perhaps there is and I just didn’t read it.

So first step was … No idea.

You can’t get married without a ring, and so that seemed as good a move as any.

I knew nothing about rings other than this one harrowing tale of a friend who bought an expensive engagement ring, only to find out staff at the store get 50% off – and his fiancée was one of the staff.

Yeah – ouch.

I didn’t want to get ripped off, I knew there was a big mark up, and outside of that I was clueless.

Enter the sister.

When in doubt, fellas, speak to the sister or nearest female in their life; turns out this is the kind of information girls share amongst each other in anticipation of these kinds of moments.

I was very happy to go to a store and scout the ring, but it was suggested to go to a ring designer and get one made.

Best decision I’d made.

Lads, truly, if there is one thing I can recommend ahead of anything else – find a mate who has a mate that had a ring hand-made and verifies the person doing it, and go to that person.

I went to a young guy in Sydney called Wade Taranto, and I am very happy to give him a free shout out here, because he was sensational. Thank you, mate.

• The truth about 'man-moisturising'

• When the SSM debate hits close to home

I asked any and all of the stupid questions I had…

“What is a carat? Can you really tell the difference in quality? Would she know it was fake? Oh, so it’s not carrot? What exactly is white gold? Can you move this and do that?” (I’ll be honest, I still don’t really know what white gold is).

I was confident I wasn’t paying overs, and we designed something that I’m certain she’ll love (but we will update this next week).

I was of the belief there is some kind of diamond vault in the world and no shortage of diamonds, but turns out that’s not the case so a few months later he’d found the rock, made it and it was ready.

Picking it up was another issue…

Other than a house and car, there aren’t many purchases you make like this in life, yet unlike a car and a house, you don’t just walk down the street with it.

God knows how girls just wear these things on their hand every day; I avoided every grate, curb, gutter, pothole and crossing possible…

And if I was passing someone who didn’t look credible enough to be Pope, I crossed to the other side of the street.

I finally got it home and declared the ring – sorted. * Are there really no 'nice guys' left?

• Matt de Groot: Buck's parties are better than hen nights

Next, speak to the parents.

On review, I probably put the cart before the horse by asking for permission after I got a ring, but alas, I was certain my boyish charm and disarming smile would see me get the father’s approval.

It didn’t. He said no.

No, I kid. It was a beautiful moment and very special conversation.

Something you can only share with a father, over a beer.

If I have a daughter, and her fella doesn’t ask for permission and allow me to share my views of love, life and the universe uninterrupted, I will make sure he knows he no longer has it.

So then it was to find a date, and the perfect way to do it.

I THINK I have those.

But we will know when I check in next week. S**t.

Want more celebrity, entertainment and lifestyle news? Follow Be on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram