Join The Wedding Edition as we sit down with beauty and fashion content creator Sián Lilly, and discover the details of her surprise engagement in London last year.
The Story…
My fiancé and I actually met on Instagram— and trying to explain that to my grandparents was really confusing! I don’t usually reply to DM’s like that, but his message stood out to me. I could tell straight away we had the same humour, so we went for a breakfast date… and here we are four years later!
Dropping Hints…
We had talked about weddings and our future for sure, but I’ve always wanted my engagement to be a complete surprise. So, I think he really took that seriously and made an effort not to drop any hints leading up to it.
He was constantly on his phone in the days leading up to the proposal, which was so out of character for him— however, he had surprised me with a really beautiful gift the night before the engagement so I instantly put it down to that. I even remember saying “so this is why you’ve been so busy recently?” and him agreeing! Needless to say, I was completely oblivious to what was going to happen the next day.
The Proposal
At the time, we were in the middle of building a house back in our hometown of London. It had become a routine for us to drive down from The Midlands to the house to check on the building work progress, then spend the night in London going out to dinner or catching up with friends. So when he suggested we go down on the weekend to do that, I didn’t think anything of it.
Looking back, I probably should have picked up on him saying to be dressed up to go straight to dinner as we weren’t stopping at our hotel first. I insisted on wearing jeans as it was still a building site, and I didn’t want to ruin any of my nicer dresses! I guess that just shows how much of a surprise it was.
As we pulled into the house I could see loads of candles and flowers leading into our dining room. There was also a violinist playing one of my favourite songs. It’s such a special memory, and we now have photos of that evening up in the dining room where it happened now that the house is complete.
The Ring…
In terms of my ring, I’d always loved the look of Hailey Bieber’s. It’s so simple and elegant—so whenever the topic came up with my fiancé-to-be, I always said as long as it was similar to her shape and design I’d be happy.
My diamond was sourced from New York, one of my favourite places to visit, so I’m planning to have my wedding dress made there too. Having a couple of girly weekend trips planned to get my dress ready and go for fittings just makes the lead up to the day even more special and exciting!
The Celebrations…
We actually flew to Portugal the following morning, and having the weekend completely to ourselves to take it all in was perfect.
Because we don’t currently live in London full-time, we really wanted to save a party until our new house (that the engagement happened in) was ready. Now that it’s been completed & no longer a building site, I’m in full party planning mode to host at the house, and finally show everyone where it all happened!
Wedding Plans So Far…
I’m expecting at the end of this year, so we’re focused on the baby for the next year at least. But in saying that, I do have a full detailed Pinterest board of every minor detail planned (can you tell I’m excited?!). So far, we’ve decided on a destination wedding with some really fun aspects of the reception. I am beyond excited to fully get into wedding prep mode, and to know our son will be in attendance now makes it even more special.
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