Janelle and Oakleys Love Story

We’d like to say this engagement story is about love at first sight, but when the lovely lady of the story was at OPSM to get her eyes checked when she laid them on her handsome hero, we’re not sure if that comment is entirely truthful! Despite that, Janelle and Oakley both caught each other’s eyes and when she got home later that night, Janelle had a Facebook request from Oakley, while Oakley had regular walk by visits at the shopping centre from Janelle!

After a while they lost contact, until one night at the Alma on her way to the ladies, Janelle walked smack bang into Oakley! “When we were in the same place at the same time at the Alma and he just picked me up in the biggest hug ever and spun me around – I knew from then he was the one.  I had the biggest rush of butterflies in my stomach and usually if someone does that in public to me I get all embarassed but it felt like we were the only two people in the room, that nobody else mattered, I didn’t care.  It was like it was meant to be and from that moment on we couldn’t get enough of each other.”

Oakley remembers the moment he decided Janelle was ‘the one’: “after we had started talking on the phone she would occasionally come and visit me while I was at work. One day she walked in and  I was out the back and I just stared at her and thought of how beautiful she was – then I told one of the girls I was working with, ‘I’m going to marry her one day!’. I knew she was the one from that moment.”

But the first proposal plan didn’t go as expected.

“I had attempted to plan it a few times but they all fell through. I had booked our trip to the US but the Company I worked for was finding it tough financially which meant that spending the extra money on a ring could do more damage than good. I vowed that if I kept my job I would buy the ring and propose in NYC – a week later I was made redundant along with 17 other people and I had to put it on hold.”

The second time around, after they’d bought a block with plans to build a home, Oakley asked Janelle’s mum for her permission before heading to Bell and Brunt Jewellers to design the perfect ring. “The lead up was tense and although I knew the answer to the question I was going to ask, I was nervous that it wouldn’t be perfect.”

They went to a beautiful dinner before heading home via their new block to view the ‘Sold’ sign for the first time – despite the rain and darkness. Janelle was worried about Oakley – he hadn’t been himself and said it was just him being tired and feeling ill. She was so worried in fact, that when he started his speech, she thought he was about to break up with her! “After all the talk and his beautiful words he finally said “This is where our lives will be built and begin and grow together as one, and it will only make it more perfect if you will marry me…..Janelle will you marry me?” He got down on one knee (in the mud) and proposed.  I of course said YES after crying and not being able to get my words out.  It was perfect, I couldn’t have asked for anything better than that.  It was sentimental and sweet and very thoughtful, something I will never forget every day we live there.”

Note from Jade: Loved meeting you both, even if the first location was in some random spot.. hehehe Your love for one another is infectious! I had so much fun and really enjoyed getting to you both a little better. Wishing you all the very best as you plan your wedding and start the next chapter of your life together… xx