Modern courtship rite is that the future groom himself or through intermediaries (parents, matchmakers) to ask the hand of his chosen parents. This ritual is preceded by ritual marriage proposals just darling. That is, the marriage initiative passed from parents to the newlyweds themselves. Perhaps this is the main difference in our time wooing of a similar ceremony a few centuries ago. If you remember, in the 16th century No one took into account the views of the bride. In the early 21st century, young people themselves reshayuyut they want to raise a family or not.
The interval of time dating to courtship may vary in duration from several days to several years. There are a lot of sociological and psychological studies about the optimal time dating before marriage. General pattern is this: how to avoid hasty and deferred indefinitely Marriage, as both he and the other will likely not last long. The optimal duration of communication prior to marriage of young: 6-12 months. While history shows that there are happy exceptions. Main: The proposal must be made time! As the relationship when the young and their environment, it is clear that it was time to take the plunge and change the relationship in one direction or another, there is a serious problem: how to make an offer.
Two variants of marriage proposals, depending on who takes the lead. In the classic version, described in almost all works of Russian literature, the initiative comes from the man. For women, the proposal comes as a surprise.