A marriage proposal hit just the right note at Cineworld in Chester.
Hospital laboratory manager Alan Shaw considered climbing mountains to proclaim his love for his girlfriend but instead chose to enlist the help of almost 40 musical woman – A Handbag of Harmonies choir.
Alan, of Ashton Hayes, chose Cineworld to pop the question as this was the venue of his first date with girlfriend Annette Barlow, who lives in Tarporley.
He said: “We have been together seven months and have both been married before. When we met it was like we had known each other for years and I felt that Annette deserved something memorable.
“My daughter Gemma said that I wasn’t ‘to let this one go’ so I knew I had to arrange something special.”
Gemma put together a video of places with special meaning for the couple, including the Swan in Tarporley and the Pheasant Inn in Burwardsley, to look like cinema adverts and Alan contacted the team at Cineworld to see if they would help out.
He said: “It was like a military operation! Annette thought she was just going to watch Now You See Me.”
Alan, Annette and Gemma sat down to watch the ‘adverts’ which ended with a video of Alan asking Annette to marry him.
“She was gobsmacked,” said Alan. “Lost for words – and then she shouted Yes! to the screen, not to me!
“I turned to her and said: “It’s not finished yet.”
The choir, who had all been sitting in the front rows of the cinema, all stood up and sang the Andy Williams’ favourite Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.
Alan and Annette will marry on June 28 next year at Pryors Hayes Golf Club.
