An Engagement Story. Tom had told me a while back that he had some time in lieu to take a morning training session in the centre of Bristol on a Friday in July. We figured since Fridays are nursery days for Wilf and we rarely get couple time that maybe we could meet for lunch after his session and hang out a bit.
An engagement story – St Nics Market
We had been chatting about how nice St Nicholas’s market is and how we rarely go there anymore (we did a lot when we first started dating as we lived on either side of it and would pass through heading to each other’s house shares). Tom would come and visit on a Saturday morning and pass the cake stand in the market where he would pick up two cakes and a copy of the weekend Guardian before knocking on my door.
It was also the place he took me on our first date and where we spent an evening drinking cocktails in the Rummer. Funny enough I don’t think I’d been there since (up until now!) although it is a really nice bar.
We met at The Moorish cafe a Moroccan place inside the market and ate some delicious halloumi, I had a funny feeling he was going to do ‘something’ but as we chatted and ate I realised nothing was going to take place and with everyone walking past and being in such a public place I was really thankful!
Afterwards, I suggested going for doughnuts at a place I had passed near the park, unusually for Tom he turned down doughnuts suggesting we walk around the market a bit more. We even spotted this Slow Club poster for an upcoming gig, Tom had sent me one of their videos in an attempt to win me over/bring me back to Bristol after I had moved away a few weeks after meeting.
An Engagement Story – Airstream Proposal
Glancing at his phone ever few minutes I asked him if he was waiting for a call to which he told me that he was expecting to hear from his mum that would be visiting over the weekend. Makes sense I thought as I followed him down a pathway and then into a building at the end and up some stairs..’wait, where are we going?’
As we reached the top he told me he’d booked me in for a massage, I think this was the point where I realised something was definitely going to happen, especially as he gave me a new dress to wear and said he would see me in an hour at The Rummer.
Meeting him outside the bar on the cobbled streets a well-timed barman came out with a couple of rather delicious cocktails. Oh gawd I thought he going to propose here and I don’t know if people will be watching and I might feel super awkward. We chatted about this and that as a bride and groom left the registry office up the street and passed us with their photographer looking for nice shots to take pictures. The groom said ‘I almost cried just then!’ and we laughed and talked about how nice the market was as a location and how the registry office was actually really pretty inside..
When he reached into his pocket after our drinks had been drank my tummy fluttered a little, but no just his wallet to pay the bill and we left…
Oh yes so I was following Tom down the cobbled streets of the market, through some iron gates, a courtyard then into Brooks Guesthouse..up the lift and..where are we going? Up two flights of stairs and onto the room where I see THESE ROCKETS!
Outfit Shoot in an airstream – An engagement story
Engagement Story in Bristol
Tom says that number 3 is ours for the night and inside is full of lots of packages. Each one is filled with the most thoughtful and thought-out outfits, from handmade to up-cycled vintage to ethical dresses from my favourite brands. Tom knows how much I love fashion and photography so he set up a mini fashion shoot for each item of clothes (there were 8 in total, although he did say there wasn’t meant to be that much it got a little out of hand’). Under the pretence that renting the rocket out for a fun afternoon of photography and fashion I had tooootally sussed him out by this point.
Finally, I was told to go into the caravan for my last gift and found this upon the table..
When Tom and I first met it was at a Dylan Moran gig, I was going with some friends and a friend she said she had also invited a friend she used to work with (Tom).
Tom and I were the only two who didn’t smoke so we spent a lot of that evening chatting indoors and then again at the pub afterwards. On Monday morning I went to work and email popped up from my friend Dona with the sentence ‘I think my friend Tom likes you’ and had forwarded on an email from Tom to her which read:
‘Your friend Fritha is lovely. I would like to marry her and live under the sea in a castle made of marshmallows. She would make earrings out of shells to sell to fish and I would support her even though fish don’t have ears. Obviously the business would fail and we would lose the marshmallow castle, but we would be happy, because we would have each other’
Now some people might find that a little over the top but luckily I’m the sort that finds it deeply romantic
I found a ring and a note for me inside the caravan which read:‘you are lovely. Will you marry me? And live in Easton. You can do blogging and I will support you even though blogging is silly. Obviously, you would be successful and I could give up work, and we would be happy, because we would have each other and Wilf’
I said something like ‘of course I will’ and then Tom realised he hadn’t asked me properly so got down on one knee and asked me again to which I said ‘yer all right’
It’s been a week today and we’ve already set the date, booked the venue and I’ve got my dress! Who said planning a wedding in two and a bit months would be stressful?
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