Nelson trip leads down the aisle

COLIN SMITH/Nelson Mail

MARRY ME! Clayton Edge proposed to Christine Speed at Jens Hansen Contemporary Gold and Silver Smiths while they were visiting from Christchurch.

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Christine Speed thought a trip to Nelson would be just another weekend away - until her boyfriend led her over a carpet of rose petals and into a jeweller's shop.

Clayton Edge's surprise proposal to his girlfriend of four years was as carefully orchestrated as her response was spontaneous.

He said he wanted to show Miss Speed that he would go to the ends of the earth for her, and had picked Nelson as the spot where he would ask her to marry him.

Mr Edge arranged for a florist to fill the Jens Hansen jewellery shop with roses, and liaised with staff to close the shop to other shoppers so the proposal could be private.

Before he had a chance to drop down on one knee, Miss Speed gave him the smile and the hug which signalled the answer he had nervously been hoping for.

"I had been walking around town for half an hour with butterflies in my stomach," he said.

Miss Speed said the couple, from Christchurch, were looking for somewhere to get a coffee, and she could not understand why her boyfriend seemed to be leading her away from town.

She had no idea the proposal was coming, although she said Mr Edge was good at romantic surprises. On Valentine's Day, he arranged for a barbershop quartet to surprise her at work.

The couple discussed designs for a ring with Jens Hansen staff, and returned home Sunday.