A Fife woman’s incredible ‘message in a bottle’ marriage proposal went off without a hitch with a little help from her friends at the Anstruther lifeboat station.
Nicky Titchener, 47, surprised Grant Norrie, 44, her boyfriend of seven years, on a chilly night on the Fife coast in a way that would warm even the coldest of hearts.
Having secretly contacted the local RNLI base via Facebook, Nicky’s plan came to fruition as part of the town’s annual fireworks display at the harbour, culminating in the crewmen shining a spotlight on to a bottle that had been taken out to sea earlier that day.
Inside was Nicky’s proposal, and thankfully for all involved in the elaborate scheme Grant said yes.
“I’d spoken to Grant before it and he said if I was to propose it would have to be something special,” Nicky explained.
“We’ve got a boat down at Anstruther because we both love going fishing, and I just thought it would be a nice and memorable place to do it.
“I got in touch with the Anstruther lifeboat, they came up with this plan about a message in a bottle, and I gave it to them the previous night.
“They went out in the small inshore lifeboat and brought it back in with the spotlight on it, all done to Mission Impossible music.
“One of the crew came across the car park and gave it to the announcer, and the rest is history.
“It was funny though because it almost never happened as Grant was caught in traffic coming home from work and suggested going to Perth, but I told him we had to go to Anstruther.
“I told the RNLI before it that if he said no they would have to rescue him from the sea, but thankfully it didn’t come to that!”
Coinciding with the fireworks display meant there was a sizeable crowd looking on, but Nicky added: “They all gave a big round of applause but we were just caught up in the moment really.”
The pair plan to marry the year after next, and Nicky revealed that the lifeboat crew were probably just delighted to see the proposal go smoothly after mishaps in the past.
“I think that’s the first proposal they have had that has gone right, so I think they were a bit nervous!”