An Engagement Christmas Carol!

It's now December which means I'm allowed to launch full-speed into Christmas talk. There will be no survivors.

A Christmas wedding is something I've dreamed about since seeing the fabled John and Jackie Clark episode of Don't Tell The Bride. It might have been April, she might have just had to do a skydive in a field just outside of Glasgow, but when Jackie opened her eyes to see her Christmas decorations lighting up the Miners' Club, it might as well have been Christmas Day. I want to be that happy every day.

Winter weddings have a very specific magical quality. Tiny icicles hanging from pine needles, twinkling lights in the early dusk, faux-fur stoles, thick tweed and evergreen foliage dashed through with frosty red berries. The hush of freshly-fallen snow. Clouds of breath hanging under a crisp blue sky. Summer weddings might have lawn games, but winter weddings are wrapped in a warm fuzzy blanket of festive good cheer and hot brandy-spiked mulled wine.

I don't think I'll be having a winter wedding myself - the weather in the North West is too inclement and I'd rather not have my elderly relatives freeze in drizzle on a grey January afternoon in Cumbria. The romance would be somewhat diminished. If I could be guaranteed a cracklingly dry day, I'd do it, but here it's either raining or about to rain. It just wouldn't work.

Another magical Christmas wedding event is the tradition of proposing on Christmas day. I was extremely excited to find out that my good Twitter friend Georgia and her husband Adam were actually engaged during the most wonderful time of the year - the festive jackpot! So naturally I had to ask her a few questions and demand photos of her Christmas tree.

Georgia and Adam's Christmas Engagement

We met when I auditioned and joined his Ska band back in 2006. Initially we were both dating other people and became friends for three years. Then, when we were both single we hung out a bit, went on a few dates, and pretty much have been inseparable ever since!

Christmas is special to both of us because we're are an intricate blend of cynical and childish - and at Christmas we can really go to town on the childish part. We both loved Christmas growing up and have amazing memories of it with our families, and we both love tradition, and having lived together for the last seven years we've managed to merge both our traditions into something really special.

Was it a surprise?

I was pretty sure it was coming, though I didn't know when. It was something we'd discussed - personally I'm not a fan of surprise proposals, I don't think it's fair if one person has time to think about it but the other has to decide on the spot. He'd also quizzed me on what kind of rings I liked and I knew he'd ordered one, so I knew it was pretty certain but I didn't know when it would happen! 

We were putting our tree up (the closest Saturday to the 1st December as per tradition) and he'd been up to the loft to get the decorations down (as I'm scared of ladders), They were all packed away as usual and I started sorting through the baubles. Inside was a gift, a box about the size of a coffee cup, wrapped in the previous year's paper. I panicked, thinking we'd missed someone the last Christmas and they'd not got their present. He was cool as anything, just said "oh no, who was it for?". It was addressed to me. My first thought was that he'd forgotten to give me one of my presents (he's done that before - he once made us go home half way to my mum's house on Christmas day because he suddenly remembered he'd missed one of my presents!) so I said "shall I leave it for this Christmas?" and he said no, to open it now. So I started unwrapping, feeling very naughty as it was still november and you're not supposed to open presents in November. It was just a plastic box, I think it had had Christmas cards in it, filled with paper scraps. I began digging through the paper scraps when it suddenly dawned on me what was happening and, ever the romantic, I shouted "OH you dick!"
He laughed, and got down on one knee and asked if I'd marry him. I pretended to take ages to think about it which made him laugh more. Then he ran out to the kitchen where he'd stashed some champagne. 

I called my parents and my friends straight away - then we posted it on Facebook (a picture of the ring in front of the tree!)

Adam chose the ring himself. He had asked me about colour and style (and ignored half of it!). He knew I wanted white gold, but other than that he went off-script and chose something I'd have never picked out myself, but I absolutely love it. 

My second best present that Christmas was definitely my sewing machine, which I absolutely love and still use regularly.

What would you say to any partners hoping to propose at xmas?

I think some people find Christmas proposals a bit tacky - but it really comes down to what the season means to both of you as a couple. We've always bonded over Christmas and he knows it's my absolute favourite time of year, so to add it into our celebrations was perfect. I don't think it needs to be extravagant or a public spectacle to be romantic, it just needs to be tailored to the person. Make it thoughtful, it doesn't have to be a huge gesture.

So why a summer wedding rather than a winter one?

We discussed having a Christmassy wedding but we really wanted Christmas to remain its own special thing. It's so important to us! Plus we got a really good deal on the venue for June...

Have you had a Christmas engagement or wedding? Let me know if you want to be featured, I'm covering festive wedding cheer all through December!