From Bumble Match to Engagement: Emily & Nick's Special Love Story

Thank you so much! I won’t lie, we do have a very special love story - something that neither of us could have anticipated - nor the rest of the world - because it was at the time of Covid. How romantic? But truly, whilst the world felt like it was being turned upside down, we felt very fortunate (with somewhat an after-taste of guilt) to find calmness in the chaos in our chance encounter via a little dating app named Bumble.

Rewind to March 2020 - I’m “on the apps” and hating every second of it. I’m a relationship person for sure, a hopeless romantic, an “all eggs in one basket” kind of girl - so naturally, I was only talking to/dating one person at the time. I was working at Elizabeth Arden and my work colleagues ordered me to go home one evening and my homework was to find another person to talk to at the same time - spread my wings a little if you will. I begrudgingly sat down on my bed that night, defined my “target audience” on Bumble and by the next morning, I was talking to “this guy called Nick”.

Now, from this moment on it all gets very soppy so if that’s not for you, skip to next paragraph…

Ever see people on the tube reading a book and not being able to contain their emotion, whether that be laughter or crying? I never understood it. Well, now I do. I had to stop myself from reading messages from Nick during public transport because I couldn’t physically contain my laughter. His energy was somehow infectious through an iPhone screen and by far, the most hilarious person… I had never met!

Fast-forward to the announcement of lockdown, Nick & I never got to have that “normal” in-person first date that perhaps we took for granted beforehand. I went back to my family in the Cotswolds & Nick stayed in London. One night, a bit of dutch courage led us to our first (FaceTime) date… which went on for 7 hours into the early hours of the morning.

Before we knew it, we were having regular Friday FaceTime dates, cleaning out supermarket shelves and paying extortionate next-day super-quadruple tracked delivery charges to send each other surprise hampers which we opened prior to our weekly dates. Some weeks, it was a wicker basket filled with everything you would need to make the perfect Moscow Mule - other weeks, it was a travel size atomiser with our fragrance in so we knew what each other smelt like. I know, it all sounds crazy but life was crazy at the time & we were just two strangers falling in love.

A few months later, lockdown rules lifted a little and so, I raced back to my London flat to meet Nick in real life for the very first time. You can only imagine our nerves! Lugging my Ocado order up and down 4-flights of stairs, I was dripping with sweat at the exact moment Nick decided to arrive. FaceTime dates turned into at-home Mexican nights & rosé picnics in Barnes Common (where Nick asked me to be his girlfriend) - and dare I say it, the rest is history?

I’d love to say it was a humongous surprise but Nick & I have spoken about marriage and getting engaged since before we even met. Two years prior to our engagement, we decided to go to Hatton Gardens and get my ring size measured - Nick pretended he had deleted it from his notes but of course, he had this under lock and key ready for his next move. I think what I’m trying to say is that it’s always been a very open conversation for us - however, the one week countdown to our big 2024 Greece trip unveiled many clues that it would be happening on this exact trip…

Clue #1: Nick said “I’ve got the perfect nail design I think you should have for our holiday” - he’s never been so interested in my manicure regime before

Clue #2: I saw him on ‘Find My Friends’ “on top” of two jewellers… I know, I hate me too. I swear it wasn’t deliberate but it’s just classic I would see this. Turns out, he wasn’t even in a jewellers - but he was getting the ring…

Clue #3: Nick said he wanted to “recreate this reel” when we stayed in Kimolos… I wonder why? Poor poor guy, he had no hope!

In 2023, we fell. in. love. with a little Greek island called Kimolos. To paint a picture for you, it wouldn’t be abnormal to see the priest speeding past on their moped, newspaper in hand. It is magical and untouched. Not only did we fall head over heels for the island, but also for our little-green-doored Airbnb - a beachfront Fisherman’s house that became our home away from home.

Nick and I have always shared a passion for travelling and so we set up an Instagram account where inspire others with our travel adventures. We took a lot of organic content for the Kimolos Airbnb in 2023 - Airbnb reposted us, it went viral and resulted in the little Fisherman’s house selling out. As a thank you, the owner invited us back in 2024 for a complimentary stay plus a meal at his taverna. We were there for one night only amidst our Milos stay (just a 20-minute ferry away). In my mind, this was the night and before my very eyes, it started to unravel. 

Nick went off to get our favourite Greek sparkling rosé and ingredients for homemade tzatziki to complement our Lays salt & vinegar crisps (is there a more elite combo?) It was game time, with the exception of some harmless but unwanted company on the always-empty, always-quiet bay we were situated on. I always wanted our engagement to be totally private (but filmed - the irony!) as did Nick so the decision was we’d reenact our 2023 reel the following morning over iced coffee.

We woke up to the most unbelievable sunrise, an empty bay and Nick was getting the iced coffees ready and the tripod set up. You bet I slept with my hair in plaits so I could go for that “I woke up like this” look - I kind of did though?

After walking in on Nick in the bathroom with his backpack (...), we sat outside looking out towards our favourite view in the world - the details of our exact exchange will remain a special secret between us but this should give you an idea of what happened next - and even though, I was prepared for it, nothing actually prepares you for such an out-of-body experience. 

I know I’m biased but it’s the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen. Early on in our relationship, Nick floated the idea of a yellow diamond - naturally, I loved this idea as I gravitate towards anything a little unique. My Mum has a trilogy (3-stone) engagement ring so I was influenced from a young age and knew that was the style I would like too. That being said, I had never seen “the” ring that I wanted - which made life a lot harder for my fiancé-to-be too when he asked me what I would like. No one tells the story better than the man himself but I’ll try do it/him justice…

Nick was saving for my ring for 3 years and searching for my ring for just over a year. 6 months into his search, trying to create something custom, he couldn’t achieve what he was after. Knowing my love for vintage, he diverted his attention to this route but still no joy other than finding a very versed jeweller with some beautiful pieces.

Hold your breath for this next part. 

ONE WEEK before we were due to fly to Greece, he still had no ring. He stepped out of the shower one morning, made a beeline for the Google AI function and wrote word for word a description of the ring he was after. To his amazement (and relief), our perfect ring popped up. Our love story has given us ample reasons to believe in fate and it wouldn’t stop here. Said ring was the latest purchase by said buyer Nick had previously taken a shine to. Contacting him immediately, he asked what the size was. Neither Nick, nor the buyer could quite believe it when they realised this “WOW” ring was in my exact ring size. A cinnamon-coloured brown diamond nestled between two natural diamonds. I couldn’t feel luckier if I tried - it’s giving Greek princess vibes.

We did… and still are! Our livers are being put to the test of how much champagne they can intake on a weekly basis and we’re not complaining. We’ve never felt so much love and happiness before - it’s such an incredibly special bubble to be in, we feel so grateful for the network we have around us. Celebrations actually only fully kicked in about a fortnight after our engagement because we were fortunate enough to have over two weeks of galavanting around Greek islands before we stepped back on UK soil

You bet I have - despite being a very organised person, I get easily overwhelmed - most likely because I have some form of undiagnosed OCD which means I have to get everything done immediately - and by the way, it has to be perfect! That being said, it’s all going swimmingly so far - the process has felt super natural and we’ve been really enjoying ourselves. It wasn’t deliberate to have done so much already - our Greece engagement bubble turned into a wedding market research trip - but it made total sense whilst we were already there! 

We ended up falling in love with yet another island (a secret for now but doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work it out) - our 2025 wedding destination! It became quickly apparent that there was one wedding planner on the island. Based in a stunning jewellery shop in the Chora (main town) of said island, we made an initial enquiry only to find out that all 2025 weekends were booked up. This fast-tracked our process in locking down a date, albeit mid-week - not ideal for annual leave purposes but we’re making it work!

The island is so small, everybody knows everybody which really works in our favour. We bumped into our planners at the beach on a daily basis and then it’s been a case of them “passing by” restaurants to lock in our dates and having a chat with the local priest over a morning coffee to ensure the ceremony venue is free for us. You couldn’t write it… but here we are.

With the dates and venues secured, our next key milestone was to find an illustrator. We want to have a very clear and consistent theme throughout our wedding starting with our “save the date” so this task came earlier than initially anticipated on our wedding timeline. We have to shout about her - having spoken to many illustrators, we narrowed down our search to the most unbelievably talented Becky Sellick. What sets Becky apart from a lot of wedding illustrators out there is that she’s a very experienced artist so can recreate pretty much any style out there - also meaning she can combine styles and create synergies between art & photography - we have a vision and something super exciting in the pipeline with Becky and can’t wait to share!

Once “save the date”’s are out, we’ll be working on our wedding website and are delighted to have booked in a visit at The Wedding Present Company showroom to select our Wedding Gift List. Often, wedding gift websites can seem quite dated (in my opinion) with limited options so The Wedding Present Company really stood out to me. As an interior lover, I can’t believe the huge selection of (my favourite) brands they have available to add to your list. I’ll certainly have a lot of fun curating my final edit! Having watched a lot of our friends go through this process, it feels so surreal that it’s our time now and we’re just trying to be so present and relish every moment of it.

We were spoilt by our nearest & dearest! Our hearts (and tummies) are so full having been wined and dined by our best friends, swimming in bouquets of flowers and champagne. We’ve also been taken aback by the generosity of some of the brands we work with - giant Diptyque candles, photo frames and needless to say, The Wedding Present Company took our breath away with the most thoughtful hamper of all our favourite things: a portable BBQ, blanket, luxury travel book, candle… all items we will take on our travels and make magical memories with!

We hope you loved Emily & Nick’s beautiful engagement story as much as we did! We can’t wait to welcome them to our Chelsea showroom soon for a bespoke appointment to create their dream wedding gift list. Stay tuned for more of their wedding planning adventures and exclusive insights. Or, for instant inspiration, scroll down to discover our curated selection of brilliant gifts, inspired by the couple's engagement presents.