Kate Coleman, 23, legal secretary, and Elliot Jackson, 34, manufacturer
“Ooh, I do like your handbag!” These were the first words Elliot uttered to Kate when they met three years ago in a pub in Norfolk. “It’s not what a man usually says,” Kate remembers. In his defence Elliot points out that it did get them chatting. “Kate stood out but I thought that because there was an age difference, what would she see in me? When I realised she was interested I was over the moon.”
It wasn’t until they bumped into each other for the third time that they went on a date. “We’re both soppy about our cats,” Elliot adds. “We’re really close to our families, too. I remember Kate saying that she calls her grandparents every day. It told me something about her.”
“I knew quite soon that I wanted to propose, probably about the six-month mark,” says Elliot. “That’s when I started planning on proposing. I knew what Kate thought I would do, but I wanted to do it really spontaneously, so that’s where the idea came from for doing it by the sea.”
So, a year after they first met, Elliot prepared to ask Kate the big question. “We went to the coast and had a walk from Sheringham to Cromer,” says Kate. “We hadn’t thought about the tide coming in though, so it was a fairly speedy walk!”
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“I kept checking the ring,” says Elliot. “I thought of how long it had taken me to find a nice stone, so I thought I had better not lose it.”
“After the walk we went to Mary Jane’s fish bar. Elliot then went and got us cups of tea, then produced a ring. I was completely shocked and surprised. I said ‘yes’ straight away.”
The couple marry on July 2 at Hintlesham Hall, Suffolk. “I’m really looking forward to seeing Katie in her dress. But since I can’t before the wedding, she can’t see my suit until then either!”