With
Valentine's Day almost upon us, I thought I'd share Mike and I's engagement
story. I never got to write about it as my brain was fogged with drama and a
heavy dose of codeine! So, for new followers, I'll recap how Mike and I met.
One of
my best friends Leanne and I met in an unusual way. My pal Mike P started
dating Leanne's buddy Lauren. Suddenly Leanne and I were relationship widows,
so we formed a singles alliance built on road trips in Leanne's bright orange
1980's car and a diet of junk food, booze and self pity.
Leanne
joined an online social and dating group, she convinced me to join too. I'd met
my ex online but had been single for 18 months, although I signed up, I wasn't
too fussed about being in a relationship again.
Then I
met Mike aka VanillaGorilla and I was LilPinkDuck.. I fancied the pants off him
but he lived 80miles away, neither of us drove and I couldn't travel on my own
in the wheelchair, so I blocked his profile. Lucky for me, Leanne and even
Lauren (who would come up for air occasionally!) kept unblocking Mike or
Geology Boy, the nickname they had bestowed upon him.
And the
rest, as they say, is history.
The
Proposal
9 Years
on, the boy and I have a mortgage, a merged DVD collection and have fended off
countless questions of marriage and babies. I was very laid back about the
whole thing, I know plenty of unmarried couples who are perfectly happy, but
every time we'd go on holiday, I'd wonder whether he was going to propose . 3
trips to Australia, 4 to Spain, Ireland and an epic trip to New York later, my
hand came back empty.
From day
one, Mike had said that he'd want to get married and have two babies by the
time we were 30, so when I turned 30 on June 5th of last year, I was a tad
confused, none of these plans had materialised and yet we were still happily
together.
A year
before I turned 30, Mike and his family had booked a holiday to Disneyland
Paris combined with a week in Bordeaux in June 2014. Off we went, to the land
of fine foods, excellent wines and the happiest place in Europe - Disney!
Disney
was amazing, no matter how old you are, the place gives you goose bumps and
sore cheeks from all the smiling. On the second day there, Emma, Mike's sister,
told us that she'd booked us in for dinner at Jules Verne, the restaurant inthe Eiffel Tower! I was beside myself with excitement, a trip to the centre of
Paris with the best views in the entire city!
So, on
June 19th Mike and I caught a (double decker!) train to Paris. I thought he was
a tad moody, but put it down to him being tired. As we walked out of the train
station, we were faced with the Arc de Triomphe, which is so much bigger than I
realised. We started walking/rolling into town and there, in the distance, was the
Eiffel Tower, the beacon of France, the monument of so many films and TV shows.
The
tower was also a lot bigger than I had imagined, it was also majestic and more
beautiful than I'd given it credit for. After dropping our stuff off at a hotel
we headed for an early dinner.
My oh
my! If you ever get the chance to go to the Jules Verne restaurant - GO! The
food was simply exquisite, the service was second to none and the champagne
flowed beautifully. I felt on top of the world. The France skyline surrounding
us, with blue skies immerging - I felt so lucky, maybe too lucky and I have
never been so full in my entire life!
After
dinner we went back to the hotel so that Mike could change out of his suit and
into his infamous Hawaiian shorts. I felt so full, I started to nap but
begrudging left the hotel to make the most of Paris.
We had
photos of all the views from the Eiffel Tower and none of the tower it's self,
so we headed to the grassed garden surrounding the landmark.
There
were hundreds of people doing selfies with the Tower. Coach trips, couples,
friends and artists huddled together to get the perfect shots. We were no
different, using Mike's gorilla pod fashioned into a make shift selfies stick.
We were
about to leave when Mike said he had a gift for me, he handed me a package with
his sisters address on the front. I opened the gift to find a pad lock with the
words "Lynsey Ellard and Mike
Garrick together in Paris". I was silly excited as I'd not had a
chance to get a padlock made to attached to the famous locks of love bridge,
which was on my bucket list.
 |
| Moment's before Mike asked |
I hugged
and kissed the boy, I was so thrilled he had been so thoughtful and romantic
but then he told me to check the packaging again for another gift. I felt
another padlock and read the words...
"Lynsey Ellard, I can't wait
to spend the rest of my life with U! Will you marry me?"
I looked
at Mike, back to the lock, back to Mike and to the lock once more.
I asked
"Really??" Mike laughed, I giggled leapt at him at with a kiss then
said "Of course I will...... and finally!!"
I was
giddy with joy and Mike explained why he had forgone some of the proposal
traditions. He said he was too scared to kneel down, as he was worried I'd keel
over, sensible as I have trouble standing at the best of times. He hadn't
chosen a ring, this was more my influence, I rarely wear jewellery so I thought
it best that we chose it together. If I
was going to wear a ring my whole life - I'd have to love it!
Mike
hadn't managed to ask my parents hand in marriage as he had flown in from
California hours before we'd left for France, he phoned them straight after the
proposal, luckily they said yes!
I spent
the next hour calling friends and family (running up a £100+ bill!) although I couldn't
get through to a lot of them with signal and overseas phone issues sadly. Then I completed my very modern love story
with a very modern announcement on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, with the
photo below I put the words...
 |
| The boy did good! |
 |
| The ring we chose together |
"What a locky girl I am!
We're #engaged! The boy #proposed on a lock of love in front of the Eiffel
Tower in Paris!"
A very
‘locky’ girl indeeed!
L x
