A romantic trip to the Land of The Rising Sun prompted Steve to propose... in Japanese!
Engagement Stories
Katie and Steve’s love story takes them from Ireland all the way to Japan, having first met in Dublin as t eens. And whi l e they’ve known each other a long time, this bride-tobe admits the details of their f irst encounter are somewhat hazy.
‘Steve says he can remember the first time he saw me though,’ she tells the Mail. ‘According to him it was when I was on stage acting in a school play. That was nearly 14 years ago and it was at least another four years before we met properly. So I guess I made an impression.’
However, Katie clearly remembers the first time she and Steve had a proper conversation.
‘Steve was studying for a PhD and was working on editing the coll ege newspaper,’ Katie explains. ‘He was so enthusiastic talking about his work and so happy to chat about anything. I remember thinking, “Wow, this guy is so interesting”.
‘While it actually took us years to get together after that first chat, it was that same enthusiasm that I fell in love with.’
It was Dungeons & Dragons that eventually brought them together, the self- confessed ‘nerds’ bonding at their weekly meet-ups.
Steve eventually plucked up the courage to ask her out for a drink and, six years on, they’re engaged to be married.
The big proposal went down in
‘Daijingu Shrine is known for love’
September 2018 during a trip to Japan, a place they adore, having holidayed there before.
‘Japan is the type of place you could go to a hundred times and still find new things to do, so I thought “Hey, why not?”.’
While Steve was busy trying to coordinate the engagement at Tokyo’s Daijingu Shrine, Katie was determined to stay in the shade, unable for the unexpected temperatures that autumn.
‘I was completely dragging my feet and constantly ducking into shops just to cool down in the air conditioning,’ she says. ‘We got there eventually and Steve told me that Tokyo Daijingu is a shrine that’s known for love and the blessing of marriages.
‘There was this beautiful little grove near the main shrine with seats made from tree trunks and when we saw that, Steve asked me if I wanted to go in and sit down.
‘At this stage I hadn’t actually twigged what was happening,’ says Katie, who instead suggested they look around first.
Poor Steve’s plan wasn’t quite going as hoped, but he persevered, patiently waiting for Katie to take pictures along the way.
‘By the time we looped back around to the grove, there was somebody else sitting in it,’ Katie smiles. ‘ He got really bothered at that, which I thought was odd.
‘ I figured we could go for another little walk and thankfully this time when we got back the space was totally empty. It was when we sat down that he pulled a box out and asked me to marry him. He’d even learned how to say it in Japanese!’
Caught up in the moment, Katie, who had also been learning the language ahead of the holiday, said ‘Yes’ in Japanese.
Steve thoughtfully proposed with Katie’s birthstone, keen f or her to choose her own engagement ring back home.
‘Having a day out to get the ring was almost like having a second day of being proposed to,’ she smiles.
Having had to push back their wedding because of the ongoing health pandemic, the happy couple are now planning to marry in April this year.