We love these pitch-perfect real-life proposals (twenty-first-century Romeos: we salute you!)
Emma & Adam
“Adam got me a Sprocker Spaniel puppy called Louie for my birthday in August 2015. In December we took him away for his first ever holiday to a little cottage in a village called Copley near Barnard Castle, and on our first day we took him out for a walk to Balderhead Reservoir as he loves water. He had always loved to paddle but had never swam properly before. On this particular day he decided to start swimming! I was busy throwing the ball in for him to swim after, when Adam said to me, ‘Do you want to throw this in for him?’. I turned around and there was the ring! Obviously I cried and told him I didn’t want to throw it in the reservoir! This was such a perfect proposal as it was so spur of the moment.”
Ben & Kate
“It was my 26th birthday and the first day in our new home. Ben had organised a taxi to pick me up and take me to have a massage and facial in Leamington Spa. When I arrived home later, Ben took me out for lunch. Afterwards, we walked down to the amazing Warwick Castle to have a stroll around. When we got to The Blue Room inside the castle, I noticed there was a table with a bottle of champagne on, and all the tourists were ushered out. Ben then popped the champagne and thanked me for moving so far away from my family and friends for him. He then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.”
Nicole & Connor
“At my 21st birthday barbecue, we had 100 of our friends and family all celebrating with me. I was 6 months pregnant at the time, and my best friend had taken me to the bathroom to sort my hair and apply some lipgloss before everyone sang Happy Birthday to me – I was honestly oblivious to all of the fuss at the time! The song finished, I blew out my candles and then Connor announced he had a gift for me to open. It was a fairly large box, so I was baffled! Inside the box was another box, and another, and another, until I got to the final one to reveal the most beautiful engagement ring! I looked up and the love of my life was on one knee in front of everyone asking me to be his wife! I watch the video over and over and still get tearful every time – we’re now expecting baby number two before planning our big day!”
Tom & Jess
“It was the day before my 30th birthday. Tom woke me up saying he was going to cook me whatever breakfast I wanted and that I had to wait upstairs while he was cooking. This was unusual, but I thought it was deserved as it was my birthday weekend! Tom came upstairs and asked me to close my eyes, then guided me downstairs into the living room. He then asked me to open my eyes, and in front of me was a beautiful brand new surfboard! On it Tom had written ‘Happy 30th Birthday Jess. P.S…’ Then he turned the surfboard around and it said ‘Will you marry me?’ Tom then held out the ring and a bottle of champagne! That night we celebrated my 30th and our engagement with all of our friends.”
Janay & Shaun
“Shaun always told me that he would give me a sapphire one day because of how much I love Princess Diana’s engagement ring and low and behold, at my 21st birthday party, I blew out the candles on my cake and turned round to see him down on one knee with a beautiful sapphire ring in front of all of my friends and family! Once I had established that he wasn’t just tying his shoelaces and had said “Janay, will you marry me?”, I couldn’t think of anything to say other than “yes, please!”. I’m still teased about that to this day.”
Jonathan & Eniko
“We went to Paris for a long weekend in November 2013. We were just walking towards Notre Dame where there was a beautiful park with long trees and benches. He stopped and looked at me, tears in his eyes and said ‘Would you like to marry me, darling?’. I was surprised, happy and very emotional. Of course I said yes.”
Heather & Anthony
“We had saved for months for a three-week trip to Australia, where we took a campervan along the East coast to Cairns. On our trip we stopped at the most amazing campsite with kangaroos hopping around, and sea view from the campervan. We were talking a walk on the beach when we sat down to take in the sea air, and Anthony handed me a book, which he said was a little something for Valentine’s Day. It was filled with memories from how we got together up until the present, and all the while I was trying to hold back my tears! Near the end of the book was a page reading “Anyone would think this was a perfect setting and occasion for a certain question…just kidding!” but then I turned the page and it read, “Oh… maybe you should turn around.” When I read this, I turned around to see him on one knee with the ring!”
Annez & Giorgio
“We were on holiday in New York and the trip was about to come to an end. We had already had a pretty amazing day – we walked the Brooklyn Bridge, had lunch at a lobster bar, visited the pop up Friends 20th anniversary Central Perk and then headed up to the top of the Empire State Building. To my delight Giorgio took out a small ring box as we watched the sun set over the New York skyline. He produced an £8 ring from Amazon as the ring he’d bought me didn’t arrive in time for our trip! I was over the moon.”
Dan & Charlene
“I had just finished a set of long shifts and I was looking forward to some time off celebrating my 30th birthday. I knew that Dan had something planned for the following day but I had no idea what! Throughout the day I noticed a couple of envelopes dotted around our house, I didn’t really think too much of them until Dan gave me the first envelope to open, and inside were our passports and details for parking at Heathrow! The next day we made our way to the airport, where I was given my second envelope, which revealed our flight details to Tromso, Norway! I had never been to Norway before and couldn’t contain my excitement. When we arrived in Tromso, Dan gave me my final envelope to open and inside was details for Chasing the Northern Lights tour for that evening! Wrapped from head to toe in warm layers, we went to view the Northern Lights that night, and it was absolutely breathtaking. At the final stop of the tour Dan and I had our photo taken under the Aurora, and as I was about to walk away, Dan got down on one knee and pledged his life to me – I was so full of emotion and shock, and of course I said yes! It was the most magical moment of my life, and to top it off, we saw a shooting star too!”