Mark and I had been together for two and a half years and, being a typical girlie, I was beginning to think weddings! We’d discussed it before but nothing had ever come of it and if I’m honest, I think Mark needed time to get his head around the idea! However about a week or so before Valentine’s Day in 2004 it came up in conversation again and we decided that we’d have a look at rings (as although the surprise would have been lovely I wanted to choose the ring myself). The friday before Valentine’s Day we set off in search of ‘the ring’ only to turn round and drive back home half way as I’d suddenly realised it was Friday the 13th and we couldn’t possibly buy an engagement ring on such a date. Luckily Mark didnt object too much to my sudden out burst of ‘oh my God-stop!’ as he was driving along the motorway and agreed it wouldn’t be right! This didn’t stop us though and the next day we tried again and found a beautiful platinum solitaire diamond ring which I decided was ‘the one’. We drove home and I kept getting it out of the box to look at it much to Mark’s disgust (no self control!) and when we got home he proposed. Not on one knee I have to say and probably not the most romantic proposal ever but thats what happened and it was still special. My parents threw an engagement party that same night and I remember thinking it all felt really surreal. You plan such events from being a little girl and it’s weird and wonderful at the same time when it finally happens!
