Enjoying the paddle boats on Adelaide's River Torrens, on one of my weekend visits, before Mark moved to Melbourne

Planning a wedding in 5 months – crazy, huh?! But it’s exactly what I did!

Mark and I met in December 2007, at the wedding of a mutual friend. We were the 2 ‘token singles’ seated together, and sparks flew. Despite the many years of friendship shared with the bride and groom, Mark and I had never crossed paths. At the time, I was working in Melbourne and Mark was in our hometown of Adelaide. Distance was a challenge, but it didn’t put us off.

For just over 7 months, we commuted back and forth, visiting one another every 3 to 4 weeks, and when we couldn’t be in the same city, we would spend hours on the phone, learning more and more about each other – neither one of us ever wanting the conversation to end.

The day Mark told me he had been successful in gaining a transfer to Melbourne was amazing. He moved to Melbourne, and it’s here that we started to build a life together – with our loyal and loving Spoodle, Lola.

We spoke about the future, had endless conversations that started with “when we’re married” and continued with “we will”, and “someday”. We both knew we would grow old together.

At the end of 2011, we made the decision to pack up our Melbourne life, store away all the precious, special memories we had made, and move home to Adelaide.

The Proposal was beautiful. It was June 17th, 2012.

I couldn’t have asked for anything more (except maybe to not be in my daggy weekend trackies, with hair thrown up in a messy bun, and no make-up on!)

It was a Sunday. Our weekly routine is to get up early, throw on our trackies, grab the dog and go for a morning walk along the beach. This day was no different – or so I thought!

We walked along the beach, towards Henley Square to buy a coffee. Then it was back down to the sand for the return journey to the car. We were almost at the stairs we needed to climb, to return us to street level, when Mark stopped and bent down. I looked at his shoelaces – they weren’t undone. What on earth was he doing?

I really wish I remembered his exact words, but the whole moment is still a blur. He was on bended knee, he had a ring box in his hand, and he opened it as he asked “will you marry me?”. There were tears. They were instant. Sure, we’d been together 4 ½ years, we knew we’d get married one day – but I had absolutely no idea he had been planning this!! I was on the beach, looking like an out and out dag, with the love of my life, our dog – and the most beautiful ring ever. I was engaged!!

I learned afterwards, that Mark had actually had the ring burning a hole in his jacket pocket the entire day before, when we went for a lovely, romantic lunch in the beautiful Barossa Valley! But he said there was never the right time.

I would have at least looked better had he asked me over lunch at a winery! But the way it panned out was perfect. It was us to a tee. Relaxed. Unassuming. Happy. At the beach.

Ms Gingham says: Oh wow. This is such a sweet story I’m getting a little misty myself! I can’t wait to follow the wedding journey of Kerrie and Mark over the coming weeks!

Kerrie says: “I am a radio journalist in my hometown of Adelaide. I love cups of tea, glasses of bubbles and precious time with those closest to me.”