How to Get a Man to Propose.

When it comes to popping the question, men act like they're from Antarctica (read: they get cold feet). This plan will melt his resistance.

He talks about the future, takes you home for holidays, and everyone swears you belong together--but there's one item missing from your happy-couple checklist: a marriage proposal. What gives? By nature, the male animal cautiously waits to pop the question until he's positive it will pay off. Men's cold feet come from not wanting to change what they have (bachelordom) until they're sure that what they're getting (life with you) is better, says Ellen Kreidman, Ph.D., author of Single No More: How and Where to Meet Your Perfect Mate. Luckily, you don't have to wait forever for him to warm up to the "I do" idea. You just need to give him a few subtle nudges. Here, we spill the strategies that will seal the deal.

NUPTIAL NUDGE 1

Take a Trip With Your Girlfriends

When you're in a rock-steady relationship, it's easy for a guy to forget how essential you are to his lifelong happiness. So tell him you're taking off for a girls' weekend in Bermuda...and he'll soon be reminded.

Why it works: "Going away on a solo or girls-only vacation will give him the chance to see what he's missing when you're not there," says Aggie Jordan, Ph.D., author of The Marriage Plan: How to Marry Your Soul Mate in One Year or Less. It awakens negative memories of the pre-you days when his closest companion was the TV remote. Regardless of how much he trusts you, he will envision you getting wet and wild with some ultraripped tropical-island scuba instructor (even though you won't, of course). Your intention shouldn't be to make him jealous or worried: You merely want to give him jolts of missing-you vibes.

Mike [*], 26, a teacher in Alma, Michigan, experienced his awakening while his then-girlfriend was on a 10-day getaway with her single pals in Mexico. "I was watching Jay Leno--something we did together every night--and I started wondering what she was doing without me. That's when I realized I never wanted her to be away from me again--I actually considered jumping on a plane and telling her that." Mike went ring shopping during her trip and popped the question soon after she returned. The next tropical trip she took? Their honeymoon.