Rob's Marriage Proposal to Helen

It still makes me smile when I recall how Rob proposed!

Some friend of ours had gone to live in New Zealand for a year. Not long after they had left, we decided that it would be great to go out there for a holiday and arrange to spend a few days of our holiday with them - so we booked it! They were quite special friends. They were the reason we had met nearly 2 years previously and just before they left for New Zealand they got married and gave Rob and I two special roles to play at their wedding.

Anyway, on our arrival at Auckland we were shattered but we somehow managed to find the energy to pick up the hire car and drive into town and find the hotel we had booked. It was a gorgeous and the staff were really nice and friendly (overly now I look back, as if they knew us). Anyway, we headed for our room and were about to crash out when Rob said he just needed to nip out to the concierge - he wanted to book a cab for this restaurant he had booked us into over the internet. ( now I did think this was strange as Rob is never this organised! ). A short while later, he returned to the room and we crashed out hoping to beat off the jet lag.

When we got up, we bathed and bubbled and put our glad rags on ready for a romantic evening out at this restaurant Rob had booked. Girls being girls, I took longer than Rob and when I came out of the bathroom Rob was stood there looking amazing in his smart black suit (he never wears this, only ever jeans and a shirt). At this point I knew he was up to something. This was so out of character for him, but I daren't get my hopes up just yet.

We went downstairs to meet the cab which whisked us down to the Hilton Hotel on Auckland Harbour and into The White Restaurant we went. It was stunning and we were met by a young waiter called Joe - who greeted us like he had known us for years. We ordered the meal and Joe looked after us as if we were the only people in the restaurant. However, this resataurant had lots of glass windows so you could apprecaite the view out over Auckland harbour and every now and then I would see Joes reflection appear and Rob would twitch or make some sort of gesture. He also went to the loo quite a lot. Anyway, dessert was served and with mine came the most amazing red rose. I was now starting to get nervous - was he actually going to propose right here and now or was this just an incredibly romantic gesture? Well, as it turns out, this was an incredibly romantic gesture.

As we finished desert, Joe came to the table said he was ready to escort us to the ferry. Hey, you what, waiters don't normally do this, but then again we were at The Hilton and the best restaurant in Auckland - so I went along with it.

We got on the ferry and crossed to a nearby island which overlooked the entire Auckland skyline. We walked a short while and found a promenade with benches to sit on. We picked our bench and sat to look at the view. It was amazing. The Auckland harbour stretching out before us and the skyline fully lit beneath a sky studded with a million stars.

We sat and talked for a short while and then Rob started to talk about us, our relationship and everything it meant to him. He started quivering and then all of a sudden, instead of pulling me close to keep warm,he stood infront of me, got down on bended knee and produced a box from the inside pocket of his suit jacket. Corr blimey, he was going to do it, he was going to propose. I was shaking too. He made me open the box and to my surprise there was a pair of diamond earrings!!! Absolutely gorgeous earrings - absolutely gutted Helen!!!

However, after putting the earrings in (and me almost losing one in the grass) we returned to the bench and the Auckland skyline. After a minute or two, he started quivering again. This time I tried to pull him close to warm him but he said he wasn't cold, he was nervous and the earrings had been a decoy to gauge my reaction as he wanted to be sure of the answer he was likely to get from his next question. Again, he stood infront of me, got down on bended knee and produced a second box from the inside pocket of his suit jacket. This time he opened it and infront of me was the most stunning diamond ring I had ever seen. He asked me to marry him, I said yes, he placed the ring on my finger and the rest is history.

He made my dreams come true that night. He had executed the perfect propsal
- the one I had dreamed about since I was little girl and something we had discussed ages before, but I didn't think he had listened to any of it. To top it off, we returned to the hotel and as we entered our room there was an enormous display of red roses, similar to the one he had given me at dinner.

There were 19 roses as it turned out - one for each month we had been together. The next morning as we went down to check out, the hotel receptionist asked Rob how he had got on and Rob just smiled. The receptionist remarked that he must have got the answer he was looking for and I showed him the ring. The reception staff all congratulated us and away we went.

As it later transpired, not only had the hotel staff been in on it but the waiter, Joe, had been in negotiations with Rob for about 3 weeks beforehand plotting and planning. He had arranged everything at the florists on Robs behalf and he had been so excited about the evening that he actually came in on his evening off to wait on just us!

Unbelievable!!! Definintely the most amazing moment of my life so far.

Let us know where you proposed, or were proposed to, so that we can place details here and maybe give inspiration to others!