Come celebrate with us!

In July 2019 we met online and went out, we both had a great time on a few dates but unfortunately in August and September we had some trips planned for our birthdays and work so we agreed that we'd just see how things went and not worry too much about it. In late September and in to October I messaged Christine a couple of times and every time she was always away or at some cool event or other and so we couldn’t work anything out to meet again but I knew that the nature of the things she was doing meant this was definitely someone I wanted to spend more time with so stayed in contact. This paid off in January of 2020 when she messaged and asked if I wanted to meet again which I was obviously thrilled to do. And the rest as they say is history.

After the travel restrictions of Covid we finally decided in 2022 to plan a big holiday to Italy! Hitting Rome, Naples and Sorrento for food, drink and sunshine. We decided to go over both our birthdays in August and I got down to planning. The day before we were due to fly out, Ryan decided to go to the races with some friends.....my insane planning made sure we were fully packed before he left, but I was still worried he wouldn't make it back before we had to get a taxi in the early hours of the morning. In my last minute packing additions I decided to throw a pack of cards into his backpack and just popped them in the pocket. Ryan made it home and off we went! We did all the sights of Rome, my birthday came and passed, all normal holiday modes on! I did get a few texts from friends saying "oh isnt it so romantic", definitely some thoughts from people that something might happen. But I was just focussed on the free flowing Aperol Spritzes. We made it through Naples to Sorrento and settled into a stunning mountain-side hotel. Ryan's birthday came and went, we did boat trips to Amalfi and Positano and I felt spoiled as every day trip we went on Ryan offered to carry our stuff in his backpack. I did start to wonder why he was so keen to try make it to the top of every viewpoint and had me walking and hiking in the heat! But each evening we watched sunsets and fireworks and....Nada. At this stage I was confident nothing was happening, and it came to our second last day of the trip. We went shopping and then headed back to the hotel to spend the afternoon by the pool. We headed down to the pool, and Ryan, having decided to throw on a shirt for some reason decided to head off down the side of the hotel to a viewpoint we hadn't been able to get to the previous days. We get there and it's a big topiary bush and swing in the shape of a heart and I'm standing there saying how so many instagram photos must be taken there and I wait for Ryan to come back from the edge so he can get out of my shot! I go up, take my photos talking away to him and realise he's not responding....I turn around, he's there on one knee and I immediately blurt "what the f*** are you doing!!" Obviously I get over the initial shock and tears to say yes! Turns out the reason for the carrying of the backpack everywhere was to be able to carry the ring around without it showing in his shorts pocket for if the right moment and spot came along. He also told me that he thought I had known all along that this was happening because the pocket the ring was in was the same one I had blindly shoved the playing cards in. It's safe to say that the what the F! reaction confirmed to him that the surprise hadn't been ruined.