Will he still marry me after I rejected his past proposals?

I’m a woman in my thirties and my partner and I have two young children together. He’s asked me to marry him a few times in the past and I’ve always said no. It’s not because I don’t love him or don’t want to be with him, but I’ve never seen the importance of a wedding and it’s just not me to walk down an aisle in a big dress.

However, since we had our second child, I have been thinking more about it and I think I would like to get married now.

Nothing extravagant, just a small ceremony for close family and friends.

My problem is, I’m embarrassed to bring it up with him, especially as the last time I turned him down, he swore he’d never ask me again.

I never really considered his feelings when I rejected his proposals and now I feel very bad about it.

He’s a great dad and a wonderful partner. I’m now worried I’ve blown it and that my reluctance to commit has damaged our relationship and he’ll end up asking someone else to marry him.

Should I drop hints about getting married and will he take the bait?

I’d love to know your opinion.

Why can’t you just be upfront and propose to him? All that dropping hints stuff sounds like a big waste of time and he still might not take the bait or be confident enough to ask you again after being rejected several times in the past.

But if you do ask him, then he might want an explanation about why you changed your mind and I wouldn’t say it’s because you don’t want to risk him marrying someone else.

I think it can take some people time to get their heads around marriage.

It took my second hubby Ray for ever to propose but, at least when he did, I knew he meant it and that it felt right for him.

So, before you do ask the big question, just make sure you are doing it for the right reasons – love, commitment and family. It’s about the marriage, not the wedding.

And make sure you’re 100% committed to getting married before you ask him because I’m not sure your partner will stick around if you go off the idea again in a few months’ time.

Urgent memo from Father Christmas’s press office says to expect toy supply issues this festive season as there’s a shortage of EGV (Elf Goods Vehicle) drivers.

And the Jack O’Lantern press office also emailed to say due to a spooky lack of pickers in the fields, if you don’t get your carving pumpkin soon, Halloween will be ruined.

Oh, and while you’re out panic shopping, you’d better get some extra loo rolls in case there’s another run on bog paper.

It strikes me that with the amount of stockpiling we’re expected to do this winter, we’re in danger of becoming half human, half squirrel.

And that’s the trouble, if I start shopping too early for Christmas, I forget where I’ve buried my (festive honeyroast) nuts, and end up scoffing all my luxury treats too early.

I’ve got an idea – how about we don’t stockpile and then there won’t be so many shortages? You really have to wonder how human beings lasted this long if everything falls apart because supermarkets have run out of cake sprinkles.

And even if there’s no ketchup or tea bags on the shelves, as I discovered on yesterday’s shopping trip, I can just drink coffee instead, and check down the side pockets in the car for my stash of sauce sachets.

Adapting to change is just the sort of thing we humans are perfectly evolved to do, although I do wonder if teenagers will survive this consumer crisis.

When I got back without tea bags and only a few sachets of tomato sauce to show for my day’s hunting and gathering, I had to admit to The Dark Lord that I’d only managed to snare one of the teeny-weeny jars of Marmite.

“What am I going to do with this?” she shrieked, as she rummaged in the bags. “It’s worse than none at all,” she wailed. “It gives me hope – and then cruelly dashes it.”

I laughed at her dramatics, and said: “Steady on, old girl, there’s a whole winter of this to get through yet.

“Have you thought about swapping to jam? Granny made a delicious jar of her blackcurrant and apple cheese…”

She groaned: “Cheese in jam? Truly we are seeing the fall of civilisation!”

Email me at siobhan.mcnally@mirror.co.uk or write to Community Corner, PO Box 791, Winchester SO23 3RP.