I met Alex in August 2002 and knew instantly that he was ‘the one.’ Within a month he had moved in with me and we were engaged in the November.
I knew he was going to ask me, as we had picked the ring together, I just didn’t know where or when. I thought he might wait until Christmas (I hoped he wouldn’t!) and obviously, like me, he just couldn’t wait.
We went for a drive one extremely rainy and cold Saturday in November with Alex driving and being navigator. As it was miserable outside and I hate the rain and damp weather, I was hoping we would find a nice pub we could hole up in and sit next to the fire. No such luck! We drove up round Loch Lomond and just as he stopped the car the rain stopped too. We walked for about five minutes before we came to the shore and he got down on one knee (in the mud!), presented me with my ring and asked me to marry him. I had tears rolling down my face at this point but quickly said yes and pulled him to his feet. We hugged for a few minutes while looking over the loch before his knees started getting cold and we walked back to the car.
Just as we got back in, the heavens opened again and it poured for the rest of the day. In fact, I think those were the only five minutes in the entire day in which the rain went stopped, so we felt pretty lucky. We then hotfooted it to the nearest pub and celebrated next to the log fire!
In Scotland, at the end of weddings or parties, it’s custom to play the song ‘Loch Lomond’. This song now has special meaning for us and it’ll be the last song to be played when we get married on May 22nd, 2004.
