Emily and John Real Engagement Story

John and I had been together for nine years when we booked to go on holiday to Skiathos in Greece. I had just presumed it was going to be a usual two week break. However, John had other plans.

We decided that it would be fun to hire a boat for the day but due to the weather and the rough sea this plan was thwarted for three days running. John seemed to be really disappointed but I could not understand why. Anyway, we eventually managed to hire a boat and went out on the open seas. We were having a really good laugh until it started raining. As I can’t swim I began to get a bit scared so I asked if we could find a beach. John insisted that we find an empty one and when we did, we moored up.

On the beach, the rain stopped and the sun began to break through the clouds. We laid out our towels, although I was still wrapped up in mine as the rain and wind on the sea had been freezing. Suddenly, John began to kneel but then laid on his side and said: "While the sun’s out, will you marry me?" Completely shocked, all I could say was: "What, are you joking?" whilst laughing hysterically.

John clearly wasn’t joking and asked me if that meant yes, to which I replied yes. Then he pulled out a little box with a white gold diamond and aquamarine ring. At this point, my emotions took over and I started to cry – as did John.

The ring fitted perfectly and we laid on the towel cuddling, only to be interrupted by some splashing. Looking up, we saw a naked swimmer in the sea. He was then joined by another couple of men and we realised that we were not on our own secluded beach but on the corner of a nudist beach. This could have ruined our perfect moment but instead we sat there laughing.

I rang my mum and dad and found out that John had rang my dad before the holiday to ask his permission. I don’t know who was crying more – me or them.

The clouds had all cleared by now and it was bright sunshine. On returning to shore we stopped at out local supermarket to pick up some beers and told the owner who had been friendly towards us throughout our holiday. He congratulated us and gave us a bottle of Champagne, which we drank on the balcony before going out for cocktails and an Italian meal. We shared a pizza before having more cocktails to celebrate.

We are getting married in Hull on 22 January 2005 and are both really excited. I still can’t quite believe it.