These days popping down on one knee in a restaurant just isn’t enough.
If your proposal isn’t via an elaborately staged flash mob, a Disney-themed mural or a kitten, you’re doing it wrong.
So when 29-year-old James Smallwood decided he wanted to propose to his girlfriend, he knew he needed a grand gesture.
With his dad running his own removal firm, the solution seemed obvious: a large banner on the side of a removal van.
He told the Sunderland Echo: ‘I had lots of ideas and this was just something that popped into my head.
‘I thought it would be nice to get my dad’s business involved to make it a family thing that we could look back on in years to come.’
While some might suggest using a removal van isn’t the most romantic of gestures, Tanya Robson, 28, was pretty impressed.
Tanya ‘couldn’t stop laughing’ after spotting the van driving towards her after work, and said afterwards: ‘I was absolutely gobsmacked. I am overwhelmed with the response from people in Sunderland tooting their horns, taking pictures and asking to hear the full story. It was original, unexpected, quirky, comical, and romantic all at the same time.’
