The date was August 6th 2004, and the place was a village called Saint Elisabetta in Sicily where my boyfriend Marcello and I had come for a holiday together with some of his family. What I didn’t know however was that Marcello had told his mother and Auntie (who were accompanying us on the trip) that he was planning to propose to me whilst we were all away on holiday!
His plan was that we would all go to several jewellers on the pretence of choosing rings for his Auntie, who wanted to treat herself. I had no idea it was to find an engagement ring I liked! We went to 3 jewellers, all of whom were in on the plan! and in the last jewellers, I saw a beautiful white gold ring set with three identical diamonds. I couldn’t help but remark how pretty it was, and that his auntie should have a look at it.
Later that night Marcello and I were getting ready to go out to dinner when he suddenly went out. Again, I didn’t suspect a thing and carried on getting ready. The restaurant was outdoors, and positioned on the side of a mountain. It was lit up with tiny outdoor lights, and was so beautiful and romantic. We had just finished eating our fabulous meal when the waiter came over and passed me a white box, telling me it was a present from the restaurant. I thought it was chocolates and hastily unwrapped it but inside I saw a baby pink velvet box. Still none the wiser, I lifted the lid to find the ring I had fallen in love with earlier that day. At that moment, Marcello moved his chair back, got down on one knee and said those famous words……..the adrenalin rushing through my body was unbelievable! my stomach was doing somersaults and my heart was beating so loudly!!! But of course I said yes straight away.
I later learned that Marcello had popped out previously to give the owner of the restaurant the ring that he had purchased earlier, so the waiters all knew that a proposal was on the cards. They all started cheering and clapping when I accepted, and even let me use their phone to phone my mom and dad. It wasn’t a surprise for them…Marcello had asked for my dads permission three days before we went on holiday.
Our engagement was the stuff that dreams are made of, and a total surprise for me. We laughed and cried, it was so special, the best moment of my life so far. He told me later that he had originally planned to wait one more week, until we were in a private villa in another part of the island. But his father, who had passed away 10 month previously, had been born in the same village as the restaurant, so he changed his mind and did it there just so that his dad could be a part of it too.
It was truly magical. He had gone to so much effort… that’s what meant the most.
