The writing's in the sand...

For possibly the first time since starting this blog, I’ve got writers block. I can’t think of a more interesting or creative way to share with you all some news that we’re very excited about... Tom has asked me to marry him!

After an introduction by mutual friends Alex and Fiona, the audition process for the roles of future-husband to Katie and future-wife to Tom was thorough. It began in May 2006 with a few drinks in our local pub in Swiss Cottage, followed by several call backs at various locations across north-west and central London. After this followed a screen test with the respective families (where resumes were scrutinised) and the meeting of friends (where references were sought)! The roles of boyfriend and girlfriend were quickly established and after one year were upgraded to a live-in arrangement to determine the potential for full-time roles in the future. After the surprising success of sharing a flat the size of a shoebox with each other and two flatmates, the audition process went on location, to a one-bed flat around the corner. Shared finances were the next test, and within 3 years of meeting a joint mortgage had been signed for our first house purchase. Surely this is a greater commitment than marriage? Perhaps not to Tom, to whom the story was not yet complete, and so the audition process moved overseas – halfway around the world in fact, and after four years of wonderful courtship, Tom proposed on a beach in Western Australia, exactly nine thousand and forty three miles from the place where it all began.

After much family expectation and a scripting reminder from sister-Anna that the five little words he needed to say started with ‘Katie’ and ended in ‘me?’, Tom found the words with impeccable timing – just one day before our first return visit to the UK. The place was the deserted beach of Bunker Bay in Western Australia, and it was during a sunny early morning walk that Tom popped the question by writing, “Katie, will you marry me?” in the sand. After my immediate acceptance and few tears of joy, he got down on one knee and produced a ring. I had no idea that he’d smuggled a ring into our luggage, or called my Dad the night before to ask his permission.

We celebrated with a wonderful lunch at the Vasse Felix winery, not forgetting that other than getting engaged, this special day was also Tom’s 27th birthday. Once the UK had awoken we shared the news with our parents, and having had a tip off the previous day my mum was waiting by the phone – I’m not sure if even rang before she picked up!

It was wonderful sharing our news with family and friends, and Tom had deliberately proposed just before our visit to the UK so that we could celebrate with as many people as possible in person. How he knew that I’d been dreaming that he might do that, I will never know. We were totally overwhelmed with the wonderful comments that we received from everyone- and particularly from our friends, for whom an engagement occurs roughly once a month at the moment, so there is no novelty factor left! Thank you to everyone for your wonderful cards, gifts, cakes and champagne.

There are many more stories to tell from our week in Western Australia, and our two week holiday in the UK, but I’ll save those for later editions and leave you now with some photos of our happy moment...