Shaun and I had been together for four years, and in that time had endured countless well meaning aunts and uncles and cousins and friends and parents and so on and so on enquiring when we would get engaged. At first we just laughed it off but as time went by I started to wonder when in fact we would get engaged!
I’ve always been the kind of girl who wanted the fairytale and luckily for me Shaun has always been a very romantic guy.
So when Shaun surprised me with a long weekend in Rome for Xmas last year most people jumped to the obvious "So do you think he’s gonna ask you?" but after so many birthdays and Xmass of people getting my hopes up I was determined not to even consider it.
The holiday started really badly with bad weather conditions meaning our flight was cancelled and we spent hours running all over Heathrow trying to get another. When we finally got to Rome our luggage was lost and we actually never received it till 2 days after we got home, so we spent the whole time in what we had on and a few extras we picked up (not wanting to waste all our spending money!)
On the Sunday night we had decided to go to the Spanish steps to see them all lit up at night; we hung around for ages but it just didn’t seem to be getting very dark. Shaun was determined not to go so we huddled on the stairs eating roasted chestnuts. Eventually Shaun said we might as well just go get dinner but he sounded so gutted by this, and that’s when I pointed out a little restaurant that looked over the steps. I’d never seen him so enthusiastic about anything before in my life!
After a lovely meal we walked outside and the steps looked beautiful all lit up but it had also started raining and was pouring down from the heavens! We ran up the steps huddled under an umbrella, when all of a sudden Shaun stopped halfway up and pulled me into him. He began to say how sorry he was that all the trouble at the airport and with the luggage had ruined everything. I was really confused why he had stopped here to tell me this when we were having such a great time in spite of the problems. Then he said "I think I know how to make it better though" and got down on one knee and asked me to marry him!
I was so taken aback I just threw my arms round him! Then I realised he was still kneeling on the soaking wet ground in the only trousers he had with him! The ring was perfect and I couldn’t wait to tell all our friends and family.
Later Shaun confessed he was disappointed it had been raining – but I assured him it was perfect, "What? Don’t you watch the movies? It’s always so much more romantic when it’s raining!"
Now we are getting married in June 2008 and we hope to incorporate a little bit of Rome into our reception. It’ll always be a special place to us and I know the wedding will just continue my fairytale.
Now everyone just wants to know when we’ll have a baby!