Edward and I had been together for almost two years, when in October 2000 we decided to take a break and have a holiday to visit my parents in Australia (where I am originally from). We were having a great time, relaxing, sightseeing and catching up with the folks (introducing him to my parents!!!). We decided to take a trip to Byron Bay (which is in Northern New South Wales and is the most easterly point of Australia. We had spent the day in the sun, having a long leisurely lunch in a gorgeous pub beer garden overlooking the ocean. When it starting getting towards late afternoon we decided to head back to the hotel to get ready to go out for the evening. On the way back, Edward told me to go on ahead as he was going to buy a few beers to enjoy before going out. I waited in the hotel room for about 45 minutes and started getting a bit worried as Byron Bay is a very small town, with only a couple main streets and was wondering if he had got lost. Next thing I knew there was a knock on the front door of our room, I opened the door and there was my Edward on bended knee, holding a huge bouquet of Australian wild flowers, a bottle of champagne and two glasses, he simply said ‘ Will you marry me’? I was overwhelmed and of course said ‘YES’ straight away! (whilst trying not to cry). We opened the champagne and spent the next 30 minutes firstly calling my parents in Brisbane and then his parents in Essex. In the evening he whisked me away to a gorgeous cliff top restaurant for a very romantic meal on the balcony, another lovely surprise. We had a wonderful evening and were both over the moon. The next day we headed back up to the Gold Coast where we found (well actually he found) the most beautiful engagement ring and celebrated some more ‐ he proposed again (with the ring) over dinner that evening. The rest of our stay flew by and then it was time to head back to the UK for even more celebrating and a great engagement party.
We set the date for July 6th 2002, and are now busy arranging everything. We are just about there with just some minor details to organise. I am not stressed at all, but I am sure things will soon change in the coming months.
I was very surprised at Edward’s proposal ‐ we had talked of marriage in the past, but he had never seem that interested ‐ little did I know that he had been planning the proposal for weeks! It made it even more special that it happened in my home country, my parents were able to celebrate with us and also that my engagement ring is Australian ‐ very special to me!
We love each other so very much and cannot wait until our BIG day!
