Gemma and Andrew Real Engagement Story

I met Andrew in 2000 while I was at university. He was managing a pub that I took my friend to get a job at and, I ended up applying myself, as she was rather shy. My first day at work we were left sitting downstairs for about 20 minutes while unbeknown to me Andy and his friends were ‘scoring us’ through the CCTV system! We hit it off immediately as I’m quite flirty and he was such good fun. He was with someone at the time and I was frantically piecing together a broken heart and it just developed into friendship. Three months later his relationship ended and I became his shoulder to lean on (or so I thought) and we spent more and more time together. Andy told me that he was in love with me and I told him it was the rebound talking, yet he set about his plan to win my heart. A further three months later I was head over heels and we moved in together.

Andy and I talked about marriage and we knew we loved each other, people kept pushing but I knew that he would propose when he was ready.

We booked a holiday in June of 2005 to visit my father who lives out in Greece. It’s beautiful and my favourite place in the world, a tiny fishing village that seems to be set 100 years behind everyone else. I adore it and have always said that I’d like to raise my children there. Andy was very odd during the first few days and kept going for walks on his own. One night he asked if I wanted to go down to the beach and have a fire, so we went down to the beach. I was walking along the beach saying “Why can’t we stop here, it looks nice?” while Andy made me walk on and on. Eventually I was allowed to stop and we had great fun collecting driftwood for the fire when Andy produced a blanket with some wine and I thought how beautiful it all was.

We sat in front of the fire for a while when the next I knew he was going down on one knee, telling me how much he loved me and would I do him the honour. The ring fitted perfectly and was an identical design to a Tiffany ring that I had loved after only being together for 2/3 months. He had ripped it out of the paper and kept it as he says he knew he would marry me one day! I remember so clearly lying by the fire looking up at a sky filled with stars and the waves rushing in and out and thinking it was better than any film I’d seen so I forgot to say yes straight away! We carved our initials in a large rock that marked the spot and Andy told me how he wanted to ask me here so he could bring our children and grandchildren to the spot where he proposed and it was somewhere that would always be special.

The ring is extra special to me as several months before the trip Andy had asked my mum and dad’s (step dad) permission to ask me and mum had given him the engagement ring that my father had proposed to her with insisting that he have it remade to suit me. As we walked back down the beach my father was telling the restaurant that he owns that Andy proposed and he was waiting to hear the news, as Andy understood having two dads was important to me and he had asked my father’s permission too. For him to go to so much effort with the place, the time, with my family and the rings shows how special he is. Andy may not have the money of a movie star but he is my one in a million.

We get married Sept 2006 and I cannot wait for such a special day.