The Wedding
"I kind of knew she’d say yes… but it was terrifying". Sam shares how she proposed to her best friend Hannah...
After seven years together, best friends Sam and Hannah are finally getting married in 2019 and they are so excited about it! – we asked Sam to tell us a bit more about their love story and their romantic beach hut engagement proposal…
"I kind of knew she’d say yes… but it was terrifying.""Hannah and I first started talking on a freshers forum - which was designed to help people find friends before starting university to make it a little less scary! We hit it off instantly and spoke a lot, and found out we were going to be living within the same set of halls.
"After this we met on our first day on campus and were by each other’s side for the whole of first year, making friends with people and supporting each other - and had the best time! We became pretty inseparable - and moved in together over the rest of uni and just loved having great times and being there for each other.
"Our relationship was always something more than just friendship, and throughout the years we had so many almost moments but were too scared to say it! The worse was at a friend's wedding, after a few drinks I completely opened up and told Hannah I'd always loved her! Then anxiety kicked in of "what if I lose her" and I stopped and said "but we both know it wouldn't have worked I guess" - we laugh about this now, because Hannah was so close to saying she felt the same, so let's just go for it!
"In the end, we both agreed to meet for a catch up, and we both knew that we had to say something, we met up and just confessed!
"I realised very early on that we were meant for each other. I always get nervous about meeting new people but Hannah instantly relaxed me, and I've never felt so comfortable around someone. Throughout uni we saw each other through the best, funniest moments, as well as sharing some tougher times... I never got overly homesick because Hannah made things ok!
"When I proposed to her I felt very nervous! It's funny because we spoke about getting married before - and I kind of knew she'd say yes... but it was terrifying. It felt like, "Hannah's my person, and I'm about to tell her I want her to be my person forever, woah" and that was so so so amazing!
"Hannah loves the beach, so our engagement proposal had to be the beach. We also wanted it to be really private and special which was where the beach hut came in!
"I also needed to propose before it got too warm - due to her wasp phobia! So a beach hut gave us weather security!
"I proposed to her on Walton on the Naze - a nice quieter beach in Essex. I made a picnic and got a beach hut, and just kind of told her "we're going out today" on the Saturday morning.
"We walked up the beach for a bit which we both loved, then to the beach hut which was a surprise too! We sat and ate some food together and just had some laughs... then I got nervous - I got a bottle of champagne out and handed her a scrap book of photos as a gift - but on the last page I'd cut a hole which was where the ring was, and a letter...
"She said yes! It just felt like an overwhelming feeling of happiness. I feel like for so much time I'd just loved my best friend - and this was it, she's said she will be my wife. I can't even begin to describe how awesome that felt!!!
"The funniest part was - a week later, she asked me back! At the same spot we finally decided to get together.
"We now can't wait to get married in the city we love (Norwich!) surrounded by all of the amazing friends we made together along the way."
Need inspirations for a proposal you are planning? Take a look at our most romantic engagement ideas. Or share your own engagement story by emailing us
