Kayleigh always knew Zoe was the one, and that they would eventually get married. The proposal, although it was put together with so much thought, came at a spontaneous and authentic time. “I created a book of all the things I love about Kayleigh on the website Love Book Online, calling it The Story of Us. I knew I wanted to use it to propose but didn’t know when I’d do it, so would add pages to the book every day on my bus ride home from work. About 11 months and 69 pages later, I finally finished so I started thinking about the setting of my proposal.”

“I’m so bad at keeping surprises a secret from Kayleigh as I get overexcited and end up letting slip, so I knew organising something without giving anything away would be hard. I suggested a breakfast picnic at sunrise on West Wittering beach for my birthday, thinking with it being my birthday, she wouldn’t be suspicious of the extra effort. However, a few days before we were having one of our favourite evenings lounging on the sofa, eating and binge-watching Line of Duty and we were so happy and content that I realised that rather than try and create the perfect moment, this was the perfect moment.” 

“Whilst Kayleigh was getting ready for bed, I put the book and ring under my pillow and waited, trying to hide my excitement and not grin like a Cheshire Cat. Once she got into bed, I told her I’d bought her something and gave her the book. When she finally got to page 67, I started manoeuvring myself onto one knee with the ring in hand. She then turned the final page to a caricature of me asking “Kayleigh, will you marry me?”. Weirdly enough, and without knowing it, I started the book on 1st May 2018 and proposed on 1st May 2019. We were in our little love bubble, curled up on the sofa and I had no idea that I would be engaged by the time I went to sleep!”.