On the 1st November 2017, Jayd and Estelle got engaged.

When Jayd approached us, he knew exactly how he wanted to propose to Estelle and we were so impressed by the elaborate plan that he had laid out which even included drawings…talk about detail!

The plan was for us to pretend that we were collecting data for a research project on face to face communication. To make everything seem plausible we came up with a background to our cause, saying that in today’s modern world we more often than not use WhatsApp and other forms of social media to communicate and people’s reactions to these messages are not shared. The aim for us was to get couples to complete 5 questions and for their reactions to being recorded on tape which we would then analyse afterwards. With our story in place, we headed to Umhlanga beach and set-up in front of the iconic lighthouse.

We then had to convince an unsuspecting Estelle and Jayd to please take part in our experiment. Being a masters student herself we think Estelle felt sorry for us and willingly obliged to take part. We briefed the couple that there were 5 questions in glass bottles and that they would need to open each question, write down their answers and then read aloud to each other what they had said. All the while being videoed on a GoPro and their reactions being captured by our talented photographer Debbie who was in on the secret as well.

The questions included things like “if we could go anywhere in the world together where would it be?” and we enjoyed the easy-going banter between these two lovebirds. As we neared question 5 we could feel our nerves and Jayd’s start to rise as we knew where this question was headed. However, a blissfully unaware Estelle eagerly opened up her last question and when she read the words “will you marry me” she screamed with delight and jumped for joy whilst Jayd got down on one knee.

We have never witnessed such a wonderful reaction to these sweet words and it was such fun being part of this very unique and special proposal. We just love how Debbie managed to capture each step of this proposal story and we hope that this will give Jayd and Estelle something to talk about for a long time to come. Wishing this wonderful couple all of the very best for their future together.

Photographer: Deborah-ann

XOXO