Claire and I have been seeing each other for 18 months now and I decided to make things a little more permanent so along with her birthday gifts there was an extra item... Actually I wrapped it in eight consecutive boxes to fool her into thinking it was just another present. When she got to the last one the ring itself wasn't there, only the empty ring box. At which point I said "you have to say yes first" and then she said yes!

So we are engaged and I couldn't be happier. To answer the question everyone has asked so far - we don't have a date yet as it seems these things need a little planning and you can't just rock up to a church. I will keep you posted but for now we are off out to celebrate...