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For those of you who don’t know the tale, Siobhan and Doug met at the Emerald Publishing Christmas party, where they were introduced by Siobhan's sister Melissa, who decided to introduce them across a crowded bar full of Doug’s nosey colleagues. Not quite knowing how to deal with this, Doug proceeded to get drunk with his team whilst Siobhan, who’d just returned from travelling, tried to convince her mum to take her home. However, crafty Karen and meddling Melissa had other ideas and Karen sneakily disappeared early, leaving Siobhan without a ride. Meanwhile, Doug had eventually plucked up enough Dutch courage to stumble across the dance floor and offer to buy Siobhan a drink, to which she replied “it’s a free bar you idiot.” After several minutes of nagging, and spurred on by the fact she was bored at home and didn’t have anything better to do, Siobhan reluctantly agreed to a date. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Like all great proposal stories, this one did not quite go to plan. The plan was for Doug to take Siobhan on a nice romantic walk on Runswick Bay beach, where they would stumble upon a message spelled out in rocks on the sand. Romantic, I know. But after spending several painful minutes the previous evening trying to create this masterpiece in almost total darkness, Doug quickly gave up on the idea and decided to wing it on the day. The walk itself was then hampered by Siobhan’s mother (who, by the way, was in on the whole thing), forgetting what she’d been told and deciding she wanted to accompany the happy couple on the walk. Thankfully Doug managed to swerve this unexpected curve ball and press ganged a reluctant Siobhan to go on the walk. Siobhan who, as anyone who knows her will agree, is a highly curious (some would say nosey) individual and had already asked one million questions about why they had to go on this particular walk at this particular time. Tempers high, and Doug starting to question whether the whole thing was even worth it, the happy(ish) couple made it to the beach where Doug discovered his final hurdle. A group of fossil hunters on their morning hunt. This wasn’t quite the audience Doug had been expecting on the day. Nevertheless he persevered and actually managed to get ahead and scribble a quick message in the sand, which, if you know Doug, is not actually that unusual a thing to do. Perfect he thought, until he tried to call Siobhan over and she flat out refused to walk in that direction. Never mind, he thought. I’ll get her on the way back. Eventually, after some persuading, and after waiting patiently for the fossil hunters to clear off, Doug managed to steer Siobhan towards the words “will you arry me?” To which she replied, are you joking? Eventually though, after Doug got down on one knee, added the 'M' and produced the ring, the penny dropped and the couple were joined on the beach by their friends and family, who’d been patiently listening to Howard’s commentary as he watched the whole thing from his binoculars on the hill. A few bottles of bubbly later and the happy couple were dancing on the tables, Doug in a full Easter bunny costume.