Any suggestions on how to ask a fathers...
 

permission to marry his daughter?

Need to do that pretty quick.....

Lunch?

Swing by his office?

Catch him alone in his office at his home?

i called him on my cell phone.. he was, of course, 9 hours away... it was very awkward for me.. if you are close by and you have a good relationship, why not do lunch? if that is too awkward, give him a call alone...

I did the phone call. Very awkward. Make the discussion as short as possible.

I have never understood asking the dad...

I am not marrying him right? So what does it matter. They are either going to like me or not. No matter what he said I was going to marry his daughter.

Seemed like a waste of time, so we didn't do it. We told them we were getting married after we were engaged.

It's a good way to establish a nice relationship with the inlaws and shows respect. He's not going to turn you down.

Simply ask for a lunch, inform him of your decision. He will likely approve and be happy you asked permission. This is a tradition which most likely is dying, but it will benefit you.

It depends on how tight with him you are
 

It depends on how tight with him you are. If you're cool, give him a call up and offer to take him to lunch. If it's not a good close relationship yet, swing by his house when you know he's home and your fiancee isn't (you can think of something).

A good way to establish a solid relationship with the FIL. Lucky for me, Mrs Sizzle has no FIL, so I dodged that awkward moment.

:)

I actually called my future mother-in-law and asked if I could come over and speak with them both. we sat down in their living room and I asked both of them for their daughter's hand.

it was a great experience, but then again, I have superfantastic in-laws. I'm on the lucky side of many subjects concerning marriage. ;) ;)

I went with the phone call. He was more interested in catching up on sports than the actual reason that I had called...after all the sports talk, I asked and he said, "Oh sure, that's fine"

To me it was always a matter of showing respect. Of course I'm a little old fashioned anyway when it comes to chivalry, and taking care of the girls I go out with.

I didn't ask my father in law. He basically abandoned my wife from the age of 7 until she was off in college. I didn't figure he deserved the respect that such an act would show. We get along ok now, but quite frankly I didn't care what his opinion was at that time.