pink weddings magazine » 33
AdRIAN ANd PAUL
W
e met more than ten years ago online, and
after a few conversations we decided to
meet up in person. I was living in
Tamworth, Staffordshire at the time and
Paul was living in Leamington Spa – where
we both now live – so I hopped on a train to meet him half
way at Birmingham New Street station.
It was only when he called to ask where I was that I
realised I’d hopped onto the wrong train! Thankfully he
decided to wait another hour for me to turn up. After a few
dates we decided to make it official, and a year later we
moved into together.
We had always discussed marriage. Paul wasn’t as keen on
civil partnerships as I was, and I eventually came round to his
view that it was a ‘runner-up’ to an authentic civil ceremony
wedding. Paul would always say to me, our friends and family,
‘Until we can legally get married, I will never propose.’ Well, as
soon as March 2014 saw same-sex marriage legalised in the
UK, the pressure was on! Friends on Facebook started posting
links to the news articles and tagging Paul, saying things such
as ‘Time to keep to your word!’ or ‘When’s the date guys?!’
‘I was more than ready and
had already started forming my
dream wedding in my mind.’
I was more than ready and had already started forming my
dream wedding in my mind. But before that was the
engagement and the very difficult decision of what kind of
engagement ring I would like. Paul is the butch one, so it always
felt natural that he would assume the role of ‘proposer’ for
some reason, but the great thing about same-sex weddings is
you don’t have to stick to traditions and can mix things up.
I struggled with the style of the ring; I knew I wanted
something classic and timeless as I’d be wearing it for the rest
of my life, but with a touch of sparkle. Eventually I found a
ring I really liked online – exactly the kind of thing I was after
and it didn’t cost the earth. I casually sent Paul a few links to
rings online and ordered a ring sizer so I could casually drop
into a conversion, ‘Oh by the way, my ring size is Q’… not
particularly subtle!
Once the seed was planted, I needed to give him a bit of
help on where and when to do it – he has his romantic
moments but I know he likes a bit of a nudge in the right
direction, and especially for something as important as this.
We had already booked a holiday for June to return to Playa
Blanca, Lanzarote in the Canary Islands – a beautiful part of the
island with clear blue ocean waters, which plays host to the
luxury Marina Rubicon lined with million pound yachts,
cosmopolitan cocktails bars and fabulous restaurants on cobbled
streets. It would be our second time there as we both loved our
first visit, so the hints of a holiday proposal were dropped by me
and by our close friends over the next few months.
On our fifth night of the holiday, after a delicious dinner of
Spanish tapas and wine, Paul suggested we sit out on the balcony
of the restaurant to finish our drinks. The balcony was thankfully
very quiet, as I had always wanted a private proposal if possible. It
was dimly lit with twinkly lights and sat directly over the sea, so
you could hear the waves lapping on the rocks and shore while
looking out across the coastline. As we finished our drinks, I did
think to myself ‘this would be a great place to propose!’
We paid our bill and I got ready to leave with a sigh of
disappointment, then turned around to find Paul on one knee,
ring in hand and finally asking the big question! After a few
silly and squealy replies of ‘are you serious?’ and ‘OMG –
really?’ I finally got round to saying yes. We celebrated well
into the night and awoke with sore heads the next day, but
overjoyed with our engagement and soaking up all the wishes
from family friends on our Facebook engagement post.
