How We Met

We first met on a night out through Shari, one of my oldest friends and one of Chris’ course mates. A few years later, I started working at the same place as Chris, and although we both vaguely recognised each other, neither of us could quite place it, until Shari commented on a work night-out photo I’d posted.

On that work night out, we had the kind of cliché conversation you see in movies: “we’re both happy on our own”… and then, of course, those people end up together. About four hours after that conversation, we ended up being the cliché and were kissing in Camel Club. After the club shut, we sat outside Lala’s for a few more hours, drunkenly talking absolute nonsense to each other.

I was adamant that Chris had to make sure I got home safely, even though I lived in Bradley and he lived in Dalton. He went along with it anyway and just did a very big detour back to his house. The next day, the texting started and it never really stopped!

A few days later, we went on our first date. It consisted of a drive around Huddersfield, a trip to McDonald’s (because we were both poor at the time), and a drive up to Digley Reservoir. For both of us, it was a great first date, with no bells and whistles, just good conversation and getting to know each other.

The Proposal

Chris bought the ring without having a set proposal plan, but on that day he did go to my parents to ask for their blessing, as well as his own parents. Coincidentally, we were going out for a meal that evening to try De Sandro’s, as his brother worked there and we’d never eaten there before. We hadn’t booked, so we were put in a very empty upstairs room, which probably would have worked as a proposal spot… but he didn’t do it there.

Afterwards, we went for a drive to kill some time as we’d offered to pick Jamie up from work. Initially, there wasn’t a set route or destination in mind, until Chris realised which way we were heading and spotted a good opportunity. Ever since our first date, I’d always said it would be a good place to propose, and the route we were driving just happened to be taking us there.

Chris pulled into the car park as I had my usual thought of “this would be a good proposal place”, not thinking much of it, until he started to say something while taking the ring box out of his coat pocket. My very romantic response was, “F*** off!”, followed by grabbing the ring and putting it straight on my finger without saying a word. Chris had to double-check that it was actually a yes, and thankfully, it was!