How We Met
Fed up of my horrendous dating track record, my friend Harry set me up an account on Tinder back in 2015. After one horrific date, I deleted the app. After a lot of wine with my friends Megan and Eliza one night, we agreed that what I needed to find was the ‘Kristoff’ to my ‘Anna’ (as in Disney’s Frozen – it might be pertinent for me to mention now that I am a HUGE Disney fan…) but that I needed some time for me.
A few months later, on a whim, I decided to re-download it, not looking for a relationship at all, just looking for an app to swipe through. A few days later, and guess who crops up on Tinder – don’t they always say love happens when you least expect it? After a few weeks of constant texting, we agreed to meet up for drinks.
I have social anxiety, meaning I really struggle to speak to new people face to face when I first meet them, so our first date was awkward, to say the least. Joe did a lot of talking, and I did a lot of nodding, smiling and blushing every time I answered a question. I was besotted, but I was certain that because I was so quiet, he’d be totally bored and wouldn’t want to see me again. Luckily, the silence seemed to intrigue him as we arranged a second date not long after!
After our awkward initial encounter, our second date (a road-trip filled with wrong turns, mini golf, and poorly made Harvester sundaes) was perfect, and we have been inseparable since.
How They Asked
For my 21st birthday, my mum, brother, and Joe surprised me with a trip to Disneyland Paris! After a whole year of waiting (and teasing Joe about a proposal – to which he was adamant wasn’t going to happen) we set off! At this point, I was certain he wouldn’t propose, so just set about enjoying my time in my favorite place. I was insistent on getting an ‘outfit of the day’ photo by the castle each day, so on Friday 21st December, Joe suggested I take my daily photo in the small, empty alcove just left of the castle.
“Why don’t you do that one of you looking up at the castle first?” he suggested, and happily I handed my phone over, skipped to the railing, and fluffed out my petticoat for my photoshoot. After an appropriate amount of time posing, I turned to ask him if he’d gotten any good ones and there he was, getting down on one knee.
To say I was in shock would be a massive understatement. I asked him no less than six times if he was winding me up – by the last time, he’d started to look a bit concerned – which was when I realized I hadn’t actually said yes yet. “I mean, of course, I’ll marry you!!” I blurted out and scuttled over to squeeze him.
Once I got over my initial shock, we headed over to watch the parade – a very special friend of ours had told Minnie Mouse that we just got engaged, and she was over the moon for us, blowing us kisses and drawing hearts as she passed us on her float. Ariel (my favorite princess) then walked over, and congratulated us too!
Afterward, I found out that he’d driven a three hour round trip on his day off to go and see my mum with the ring to ask for her blessing, and had also asked my brother for his too, which just meant the world to me.
Best day ever!