The Proposal

What better place to start than the beginning, the proposal. Back in 2019 we booked a holiday to Skiathos for July 2020, however this got cancelled due to Covid. When this got cancelled I presumed we wouldn’t get a holiday in 2020, like most people, but boy was I wrong. Chris surprised me with a holiday to Lake Como, Italy for my birthday present and he had booked for us to go for our 6 year anniversary in August.

At the time Chris was so determined to get out there and I just presumed he just wanted a holiday, not that there was any secret motivation for the trip. As I worked full time throughout the pandemic, and even moved jobs just days before the trip, Chris took over the planning, picking out lovely places for us to visit and which days to go.

We luckily managed to get there, staying in a lovely hotel called Hotel Bellagio. We were right in the centre of Bellagio with so many things to do and see. When Saturday 8^th August came we planned to go to Villa Melzi, a gorgeous villa set in large and beautiful gardens. When we got to the villa we wandered around the gardens until we came across a lovely place to stop and take in the view, next to an old row boat. There was a noisy family next to the boat and Chris asked if we could come back when they had gone so he could ‘see the boat’, social distancing and all that. I thought nothing of this and we carried on.

About 20 minutes later we ended up back at the boat, we took a seat on the beautiful stone benches and took in the view. While I talked about my new shoes, little did I know Chris was getting out the ring. Suddenly I looked to my right and he was on one knee, asking me to marry him. It took be by complete surprise, and I can safely say it was the most wonderful moment of my life. Of course I said yes, through plenty of tears.

We sat there for a long while enjoying the moment and getting some photographs. We then decided to phone our family, which in itself was difficult trying to get hold of everyone on a Saturday afternoon. I tried to phone my mom first of all but she didn’t answer the phone, so then I tried my dad. Of course, as Chris had asked for his blessing, my dad knew straight away what the call was about and raced to get my mom. We used the ‘we thought you might like to see our view’ with my hand and the shiny ring in front of the Lake.