Before we dive into the whole story, let me start off by saying I’M ENGAGED! Prepare yourselves for many Ed Sheeran love songs references, wedding planning posts and me rambling on about how excited I am to be getting married. It’s been 2 weeks now since Mike popped the question and there has not been a day that I have not mentioned my wedding at some point in a conversation. I even had a full-on chat with one of the M&S employees about my engagement story. Grab a drink and a couple of snacks and let’s get right in!

The day

The story starts on a very beautiful Wednesday morning, 31st January. My boyfriend had previously asked me if I would like to go on a date with him as he booked an afternoon tea at the Ritz. THE RITZ. I was going to go and eat in Queen Elizabeth’s favourite place. I mean… I couldn’t say no, could I? So after running up and down the shops for a week beforehand, I managed to grab an outfit that would allow me to curtesy should the opportunity arise. Side note: it didn’t but it’s always good to be prepared. Let me tell you now – The Ritz is just magical. It’s an out of this world place. When I walked in I felt like I stepped into a palace. The staff was incredibly welcoming and I could definitely get used to people coming by asking me ‘if it would be okay to pour tea in my cup’. It’s always okay.

Up until Mike went down on one knee I had two biggest highlights in there. First, the scones were quite possibly the best ones I have had and will ever have in my life. They came out freshly made, still warm and so fluffy even clouds could be jealous. Slap that clotted cream on it with strawberry conserve on top (yup, conserve, none of that jam malarkey) and I was in heaven. The second highlight was the fact that my outfit actually matched the whole bathroom. I spent quite possibly good 10 minutes in there snapping photos because I found it hilarious how easily I could blend in with the walls. No joke.

When I got back from the bathroom, I picked up my cup of tea and as soon as I did that the waiter came over and moved our table out. I was stuck there, a bit in shock, with a cup in my hand hanging mid-air. I mean, if he was about to propose, I really didn’t want to hold anything. I kind of threw the cup back on the table without it breaking and at the same time, another waiter came with a big fancy tray. He lifted the lid and there was a rose wrapped in a napkin and a box with the most beautiful ring in it. Mike went down on one knee and… well, I’d be lying if I said I actually remember what he said. All I know is that I nodded and then the ring was on my finger. And absolutely everyone there was clapping and crying. I’ve had other women bawling their eyes out at my own engagement and it was so surreal. People kept coming up to us to congratulate us and give us a hug like we’d been friends for a long time. It felt so special to have all of them be a part of our story and I’m sure to many of them it’ll be a moment they’ll remember as well.

Did I cry? Nope. I think I was in too much shock for that. I genuinely had no idea what was happening until a long time afterward. I didn’t even speak to anyone until about 2 hours later. At that moment in time, my brain had to catch up with what was happening.

You bet your ass though that I started planning the wedding 5 minutes after looking at the ring. I’m messed up like that.

The aftermath

If you think this was the end of the story, you’re very much wrong. It was the craziest two weeks of my life since I was surprised so many times by people turning up to celebrate it with us, I lost count. A few days after our trip to the Ritz, Mike and I were both working hard on our projects (wow it sounds so posh when it’s really not). So imagine our surprise when we went downstairs to find a group of our friends popping champagne and casually crunching on snacks in our living room! Which also made me realise that I probably should get more female friends as I was surrounded by a group of guys all evening. Not that I’m complaining.

Then what I thought was a trip to visit my sister and auntie in Warsaw, turned out to be a huge surprise that I had no idea about. Not only was I treated to an incredible room in a Mariott hotel, but also out of nowhere, my immediate family turned up there in the evening. It was a hella emotional rollercoaster ride. It felt so nice to be able to share this moment in my life with them since we tend to miss out on quite a lot living so far away from each other.

You know how you always seem to look at different proposal ideas online and find so many you actually don’t know what you’d prefer? Asking for a friend… In all seriousness, I have never thought about the Ritz when I was thinking about getting engaged, but somehow my proposal story worked out to be everything I’ve ever wanted and more. So let’s raise a glass (or a cuppa, both are equally as good) to the fact that now I’m going to dive into the world of wedding planning! And I already find it incredibly overwhelming… Let me know if you know good wedding bloggers/vloggers out there because I’m desperate for ideas.

Until next time xx

Read more: 5 effective ways of dealing with homesickness or Earn extra money without much effort

Tags : afternoon tea, afternoon tea at the Ritz, engagement, engagement story, princess-worthy engagement story, proposal