Couple found love at flower memorial
A LOVESTRUCK couple who met as they laid flowers at the memorial to those killed in the Manchester Arena attack got engaged a fortnight after first speaking.
Nick Katsiaounis, 50, was looking at floral tributes in St Ann’s Square when he accidentally bumped into Nicola Stott, 42, who had herself laid flowers.
They got chatting and agreed to go for a coffee.
Just 16 days later, after a whirlwind romance, Nick bought a ring and proposed to Nicola - known as Nicky - outside a jewellers in the middle of Moston Market.
Nick, from Essex, who has a 26 year-old daughter from a previous relationship, has been working in Manchester for seven months repairing train carriages at a depot in Longsight.
Mum-of-two Nicky works in publishing and is a food critic for the magazine Cheshire Life.
Nick, who plans to move to Manchester permanently to be with Nicky, said he believes the raw emotion in the aftermath of the Arena bombing inspired his decision to propose so soon.
Nicky, who lives in Prestwich, Bury, said: “I know two people who were at the concert and I was in the area myself that night, so it affected me a lot, and I had to go and lay flowers.
“Nick was there as well and it all escalated. We just bonded immediately. And I know it sounds like a cliché, but it’s just blossomed.
“Obviously, it’s horrific and will affect us all for the rest of our lives. But it’s nice to think that out of something so negative, has come something so positive.
“I had no idea he was going to propose. I was absolutely gobsmacked and we still feel like we’re in a bit of a whirlwind.
“But I think after something like that you feel a lot more in touch with your emotions.
“You realise that life is short so you need to seize your opportunities and live for the moment.”
The couple now plan to tie the knot in a ceremony in Ibiza next summer with a reception back in Manchester.
Nick said: “When we met we both had tears in our eyes it was so moving in that square. I bumped into her and she asked where I was from and we got chatting about things and I asked her to go for a coffee. We just get on so well. I definitely think it was fate.”
After the chance meeting on May 28, the pair visited Blackpool together and after several more dates Nick decided to pop the question.
He took Nicky to see a ring at a jewellers at Moston Market before dropping onto one knee.
Nick said: “I think it just proves Manchester really has got the love. I can’t wait to move here permanently.”