Our meeting was "A modern day romance", this of course, is just code for, we both swiped right and met on Tinder!
James opened up the chat to Kirsty with a line about which breakfast foods she preferred, and Kirsty eagerly replied with an enthusiastic musing over whether pancakes or waffles could reign supreme as the best "breakfast but really it's just dessert" choice.
We decided to meet on Takapuna Beach for a coffee and possibly to go swimming afterwards. The one hour long coffee date we both thought we were turning up to ended up lasting about 12 hours before we finally managed to say goodnight to each other.
Our first date was so full of laughter, an immediate sense of comfort around each other, and a mutual desire of never wanting it to end. We went swimming, had lunch, more swimming, a nap on the beach, and even a first kiss was all part of the day that we had no idea was changing our lives forever in the best possible way.
(The featured photo is from our 4th date at Kelly Tarlton's and is our first photo together)
We were celebrating our one year anniversary by doing the Tongariro Crossing. While snuggled up in our tent on an air mattress and with achingly tired muscles, we started to discuss our feelings about marriage.
Knowing with such certainty that there was nothing we wanted more than to spend our lives together, we both decided that we wanted to get engaged before leaving NZ so that we could celebrate and get to share that moment with all of our family and friends.
We then planned a date day to go try on engagement rings and with the same certainty that she had about James being her dream man, Kirsty almost instantly found her dream engagement ring.
From this point on, unbeknown to Kirsty, James had made plans to ask her to marry him on Valentine's Day. That evening, we went out for dinner in Parnell at a cute little bistro, before heading to the Rose Gardens where James set up a picnic blanket, lanterns, and fairy lights.
As the sun was just beginning to set, James got down on one knee and asked Kirsty to marry him and be his wife. Of course the answer was a resounding yes.
Tears were flowing from both of us, and when we finally had stopped crying, James also revealed he'd had a photographer capture the proposal and asked Kirsty's parents to join them to celebrate with champagne.