Celebrating 2023

Every day I think how lucky I am to be in a job that not only brings love together but a job that I love.

It has been nearly 10 years since my sister and I set up The One Romance and each year brings joy and happiness – along with some challenges – and I love every moment. I pride myself on the service I give my clients but that does sometimes mean that I forget to give time to my family, friends and myself.

The festive season is a very special time of year for me. I got married on Christmas Eve to my childhood sweetheart nearly 30 years ago (wow, I am getting old!!) and it is when I do finally put my feet up, enjoy my wonderful relationships and take a well-earned rest.

It is a time to look back over the year, reflect and celebrate. With that in mind, I wanted to share some of our special, challenging and funny moments with you.

We started the year with Rhonda and Katie at The Cheval Three Quays – two beautiful ladies celebrating their love together, and we can’t wait to help them plan their wedding in Greece next year. We filled Leighton Museum Arab hall with flowers and then found ourselves creating our magic in Edinburgh – that was a long drive. We broke down on the way and I got a sickness bug, but wow did the team pull it all together with a treasure hunt, a stunning room decoration with flowers by Laura Kuy, then the private hire of Edinburgh Castle for a celebration dinner, not forgetting a candle-lit proposal at Fulham Palace and sunflowers and fireworks at the Four Seasons Hampshire when a lovely local farmer had to tow us out of the muddy field at 11pm (thank you lovely farmer).

February saw us making a wishing tree in a client’s Mayfair office, Valentine’s on the River Thames and room decorations at the Shangri La Shard, Chelsea Harbour Hotel and some beautiful proposals at Fitzrovia Chapel.

In March, we were in the sky with The London Eye and at a new location in Hoxton.

As we stepped into Spring we found ourselves at Le Manoir in Oxfordshire. The weather was not on our side that day – the wind blew my glasses across a field and the helicopter ride nearly had to be cancelled. We had our first proposal in the private apartment at the Ham Yard Hotel, covered a room at The Corinthia in balloons and arranged an afternoon tea proposal at the Shard, spreading more love along the River Thames and not forgetting the stunning Fitzrovia Chapel.

In May we were filling clients’ homes with balloons, flowers and love, filling The Connaught champagne bar with 1000s of flickering candles and being terrified by zombies in an escape room proposal.

With the summer approaching and more and more clients coming to London to make extra-special holiday memories, we had treasure hunt proposals, surprise photoshoot proposals, St Dunstan being one of our favourite backdrops, butterflies at The Mandrake, picnic proposals in the royal parks and the most beautiful picnic proposal at Fanhams Hall, private dining at Beaverbrook ‘Love is in the Air’ and the arrival of our stunning eight-foot red love heart.

With the summer loving coming to an end, September and Autumn brought love with fireworks, canal rides in Little Venice, rain at St Michaels (thank goodness for blue sheeting and my fantastic team for their quick responses and extra hard work), our first proposal at Queens House Greenwich, stunning room decorations at The Cheval and Fitzrovia Chapel.

As the festive season is in full swing, we have been creating Christmas cheer and surprise proposals with stars, angels, reindeers, Christmas trees, Father Christmas and another new venue for us – Four Seasons Trinity Square Tower Penthouse (what a view!) – we were so lucky with the weather right up until the last minute when the wind picked up and nearly blew everything away but nothing would stop us from ensuring our clients have the proposal of their dreams.