The perfect recipe for a marriage proposal revealed. But can any man live up to it?

As if the decision to share the rest of your life with the woman you love didn't make getting engaged a big enough deal, potential grooms-to-be now have the added weight of extreme expectation on their shoulders, as UK women seem to have fallen hook, line and sinker for the Hollywood version of romance.

It seems for the average woman in the UK, commitment is just not enough. Instead, she has a list of boxes her partner needs to tick when asking for her hand in marriage. And if the conditions aren't perfect enough, he could be faced with a big fat 'no'.

These expectations include a proposal three years and four months into the relationship, on a romantic (though UK-based) break, with a ring worth over £1,000. Cornwall is the most popular.

A study of 2,000 unmarried women found that gone are the days when men were expected to ask Dad for his daughter's hand in marriage, with the majority of women preferring to find out his intentions before their parents do.

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But tradition still holds strong as many still want their partner to be down on bended knee with an engagement ring he has chosen and half expect to be reduced to tears by the grandiose moment.

And boyfriends beware, if the proposal is wrong in any way - either because it isn't romantic enough, is in the wrong place or takes place on the wrong day - a quarter of women will say no.

Anna Blackburn a spokeswoman for Beaverbrooks the Jewellers, which carried out the research, believes: ''Women dream of their perfect proposal for years leading up to the main event.

''In fact, most girls know exactly what they want from a proposal, as they do the actual engagement ring  and wedding day, long before they meet the man of their dreams."

This study indicates most women want an engagement ring worth £1,046, that has a white gold band and an impressive diamond.

And while girls like to have had a couple of 'deep and meaningful' discussions about marriage, they also want the proposal to be a complete surprise, and something their partner has given great thought to.

The proposal should take place in private, and after just one alcoholic drink.

And while the majority of girls are happy for a simple "will you marry me" one in 10 would love it if their partner serenaded them with a song.

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A further seven per cent would quite like their partner to recite a poem and one in 20 think he should push the boat out and get a flash mob organised on their behalf.

And in the only element of the survey that suggested women have any autonomy over their own decisions, 26 per cent claimed that if their partner doesn't propose as soon as they'd like, they'd have no problem popping the question themselves.