Tuesday, 24 January 2017

The Proposal

It's time – here comes the story of the proposal (fair warning, it’s pretty long so you might want to grab a cuppa!) As I said in the previous blog, it was on the 17th January 2017, at 22.40 - a week ago today, almost to the hour. However to do the story justice, I will take it right back to the week before.

On Tuesday 10th, Anthony went out with my Dad to see a show in London. They meet up every so often anyway, so I didn’t suspect anything. Little did I know that while out, Anthony asked my Dad’s permission for my hand in marriage. Needless to say, it was granted in a heartbeat! At this stage, I believe Anthony had already picked my ring (more to come about the ring later), so he also invited my Dad along on Monday to go and collect it. He also phoned my mum to ask her permission as well – I’m surprised that he didn’t go deaf from her screaming! - I just love him so much, he’s so perfect!

So on Monday 16th January, Anthony got on a train at 7am to “go to a business meeting” – again, I wasn’t suspicious because I know that him and his business partner Geoff hadn’t had a meeting for a while, so probably had a lot to do. What he was instead doing was getting a train to Aylesbury (from Stevenage that involves going into London then back out, it’s a pain in the arse route) to go to my Dad’s house. They then drove to Birmingham where my ring was on reserve. This store that he bought it from is incredibly specialised – Anthony hadn’t just picked a ring, he’d picked the specific diamond and the specific band, both of which are flawless! He then went back to Aylesbury with my Dad, but had to quickly get the train back to London, where he actually did have a business meeting!



We then skip forward to Tuesday. For Christmas, one of my presents from Anthony was tickets for Aladdin on the 17th. I had plans until 5pm, so once I was done I hopped onto a train to London – Anthony was already there “seeing his dad”. Turns out he was actually checking us into a 5* hotel! We went for a super quick dinner at a quaint little pasta bar opposite the Prince Edward Theatre, then went into the show. Anthony was pretty insistent on us getting a programme, but I wasn’t that fussed (we’ve seen the show before and we never normally get programmes) so I said that he could get one if he wanted. He didn’t move, he looked like he was waiting for me to get my purse out, at which point I was thinking ‘how cheeky can he get! I’ve already paid for dinner and drinks, I don’t even want a programme!’. In the end he got up and went and bought a programme from someone pretty far away from our seats – it turns out that all of the hesitation to get his wallet out was because the ring was in it!

We watched the show, it was amazing, a pretty great date night as far as I was concerned, but I thought that was where it ended; I knew we were going to have a mad day the following day, as I was heading to my cousin’s house early to help her dress the venue for her wedding on Thursday! We headed back to Kings Cross to get our train back to Stevenage, and had a 20 minute wait for the next train, so we went for a walk. We went to the little swing outside of Kings Cross, and I happened to make a comment about how nice that would be for a proposal if there was no one around, and that I didn’t mind whether our proposal was private or public as long as it was personal to us. I cannot believe that we had that conversation less than 10 minutes before he proposed! I honestly wasn’t even prompting, Anthony could tell you that I talk about proposals all the time!





We went back into the station and went over to the 93/4 trolley by the wall, and had a couple of individual photos. At this point, an incredible amount of American tourists come up to the trolley area and start queuing for a photo, so we’re like “ok we’ll get a quick couple one then get out of the way”. I gave one of the American ladies my phone, and started posing as if I was pushing the trolley. At this point, I also want to just make it clear how much we owe this woman – she used her initiative to keep snapping photos and to get a video! I really wish we’d got her name, but I was just so overwhelmed after!

While posing for the photo, apparently I misheard what Anthony said – what I heard was “now’s the time to strike a pose”, instead he said “now’s a good time to propose”. I say to him to stop messing around while still looking at the camera, which is when I notice the American lady’s face. I turn back to Anthony, and he is down on one knee, with the most beautiful ring in existence between his fingers. What happens next is a blur – all I can say for definite is that there were a lot of tears involved, and that I ended up with a ring on my finger!  


At this point I was so flustered and overwhelmed that I was barely functioning as a human being! I suddenly realised that our platform has been announced for our train and that actually we should probably get a move on, which is when Anthony says “actually I think we should stay in a hotel – I’ve booked us into one just down the road”. While walking we talk about who already knows, and both of us phone parents and close family – it's when I'm on the phone to my Mum that I realise that I hadn’t actually said yes! I remember my cousin Amy saying that happened to her, and at the time I was like “seriously, how?!” then went and did the same thing myself!

The hotel was perfect. Anthony had packed a bag for me, even with the small things that most guys would forget, like make up wipes, and perfume, he just covered every base! The whole proposal was perfect, and it pains me to say that I couldn’t have done it better myself. I would never even have considered Kings Cross, but it was so SO magical – it involved both Harry Potter and Disney (seeing Aladdin, though at this point that felt like forever ago!), and Kings Cross has so much significance for our relationship – while we were long distance at university, we would travel Kings Cross to York and vice versa. That station has seen us in every state, heartbroken at the thought of not seeing each other for at least 3 weeks, ecstatic at seeing each other after a minimum of 3 weeks, panicked at being late for a train, bored waiting for a delayed train – name an emotion and we experienced it within Kings Cross.

This was such a long post, so if you made it to this point then well done! I'm just the luckiest girl in the world, with the most perfect fiancé, and I wanted to make sure that I am telling every part of the story so that you all know just how thoughtful and tenderhearted he is, and how phenomenally well he knows me! Now it's time to plan a wedding!

Thanks for reading, catch you soon! 


Friday, 20 January 2017

We're Engaged!!!

So 3 days ago was the best day of my life. 17th January 2017, around 22.30ish, at Kings Cross Station. Anthony got down on one knee, produced the most beautiful ring I've ever seen and asked me to marry him! The whole experience has been so incredible, and I just want to shout from the rooftops, so figured if I shout to a blog page, then people can choose whether or not to read it.

As a couple, we’ve always worn our hearts on our sleeves, so I’m sure that nothing in this blog will be a surprise to anyone who knows us well. There’s so much to say, and I don’t really know how to begin so I’ll just go right back to the start!

Anthony and I first met when we were just 13, unfortunately the date escapes me (never for one moment did I think that 10 years later I’d be engaged to him!) but it was around September 2007 at a St John Ambulance (SJA) county competition. He was the first aider and I was the casualty, and I was smitten from the start! Unfortunately, he was absolutely useless with regards to means of contact, so at the end of the day we went our separate ways. We then met on several occasions over the following 3 years, had some interesting events (one of them being a first aid duty where Anthony was paired with my sister Melissa, she passed out for some reason and he had to carry her to the first aid tent!) Our lives may be many things, but boring is not one of them.

It was around September 2010 when things really began. We were both on another SJA course, and we just clicked – we were best friends from that moment on. I already had feelings for Anthony, but it took another 5 months (and a few nudges from some of our closest friends) for me to wear him down! On February 11th, 2011, we met at Costa in Oxford, and he gave me a beautiful letter that he’d written, which concluded by asking me out. We spent so long walking around and talking, I missed two trains and the last bus! It was so perfect.

Our 6 year anniversary is now fast approaching, and I wouldn’t have changed anything about our time together. We’ve had some incredible adventures, travelling to Rome, Ireland, Chicago, Barcelona, Mallorca, and of course, unforgettable Florida. We’ve celebrated 11 birthdays, 5 anniversaries, spent over £1000 each on train tickets to maintain a long distance relationship, made incredible friends, moved in together, got our lovely little fish, and most importantly… GOT ENGAGED!!!

It is all still so overwhelming, and there will be another blog entry following at some point detailing the proposal – I'm pretty sure that I can't do it justice but will do my best. All of the messages that we’ve received have been so beautiful, I'm so grateful for all of the love we’ve been sent. We have no wedding plans yet, I couldn’t even tell you what time of year it will be! We’ve still got so much to plan but for now we’re just enjoying being engaged. We’re also determined to get on the property ladder this year, so the wedding may be pushed back slightly!

I don’t know how often I’ll be updating this blog, I’ve never done anything like this before. It also doesn’t help that I cry pretty much every time I remember that this isn’t a dream, and that I'm actually getting married to my soulmate! So for now, I’ll leave it there and go dry my eyes, but I would imagine that the proposal story will probably follow relatively soon as I'm just wayyy too excited for everything…


Catch you later guys!