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Engagements

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Retired tennis star Maria Sharapova has some exciting news. The former athlete recently announced her engagement to British businessman Alexander Gilkes, after two years of dating.

Taking to social media, Sharapova gushed about falling in love with Gilkes at first sight.

“I said yes from the first day we met❤️This was our little secret, wasn’t it ??@gilkesa,” Sharapova wrote on Instagram.

 

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A post shared by Maria Sharapova (@mariasharapova)

In his own post, Gilkes expressed how happy he is to be engaged to Sharapova.

“Thank you for making me a very very happy boy and saying yes. I look forward to a lifetime of loving you, and learning from you @mariasharapova,” he wrote on Instagram.

 

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A post shared by Alexander Gilkes (@gilkesa)

Gilkes (41), is a close friend of Prince William. The pair met while studying together at Eton College and have remained friends ever since.

Sharapova and Gilkes have had a relatively low-key relationship. They went public in October 2018 when they took a trip to the Cotswolds, but had been spotted together as early as March that year,

This is the second engagement for both. Sharapova was previously engaged to former Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Sasha Vujacic before splitting in 2012. Gilkes was once married to designer Misha Nonoo, who is known for being the friendly matchmaker who set up Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. The pair divorced in 2016 after 13 years together.

Picture: Instagram / Maria Sharapova

Pop sensation Ariana Grande is ending the year off on a high note. The singer recently announced she is engaged to luxury real estate agent Dalton Gomez.

Taking to Instagram on Sunday December 20, Grande (27) shared a series of pictures of the pair cuddling up and in two of the images, her massive new sparkler can be seen.

“forever n then some.”, she captured the sweet slideshow. 

According to PEOPLE, the pair have been dating since January 2020. They have been quarantining together in Grande’s Los Angeles home since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and made their public debut as a couple in May in the music video for ‘Stuck with U’, Grande’s duet with Justin Bieber.

Grande was famously previously engaged to SNL star Pete Davidson, but they ended their engagement in October 2018 following the death of Grande’s ex, rapper Mac Miller.

Picture/s: Instagram / Ariana Grande

It appears Lana Del Rey is ending the year off on a high note. The musician set engagement rumours aflame during her recent performance on Jimmy Fallon’s show.

While performing “Love You Like A Woman” on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Del Rey shocked fans by wearing a massive rock on her ring finger.

While reps for Del Rey have not commented, a source confirmed to PEOPLE magazine that the Grammy nominee is engaged to fellow musician Clayton Johnson. The pair reportedly met on a dating app.

The two officially followed each other on Instagram in August, and have since then appeared on social media together. They celebrated Halloween together and wore matching Wizard of Oz costumes, and Del Rey could be seen wearing a ring on her ring finger in pictures from the event.

Picture: Twitter

Being proposed to is a special moment and for some, may feel like a dream come true. Well, it seems one man took this saying quite literally and decided to propose to his sleeping partner. After sharing the moment on Facebook, social media users across the world were obsessed with finding out the outcome.

On December 9, Facebook user Michael Mayorga dedicated a post to his partner, Jamilah Williams. It wasn’t any old Facebook post, however, it was THE Facebook post to propose to her.

“It’s 5:00AM. for weeks now I been planning on how to pop the question…. you know all my moves and you are one very hard woman to surprise but the jokes on you because now you’re going to wake up with 3 surprises… a phone full of congratulations notifications and text, an engagement ring on your finger and a picture of you sleeping that you don’t want all over the internet . SURPRISE!!! I’ll let y’all know the verdict when she wakes up,” he wrote alongside a picture of the pair in bed, in which he holds up an engagement ring.

This proposal had Facebook friends and strangers obsessed and desperately waiting to find out if she accepted this creative proposal.

“I have questions!! Wait, is she up yet? Did she say yes? Did he get his ass beat for posting this picture! I need answers please!” wrote one user.

“The fact I’ve checked her page like 4 times to see if she woke up yet and I never met this lady a day in my life lol. Let us know how you feel Jamilah!!!” added another.

Luckily Jamilah said yeas. In a Facebook post of her own, she gushed about her “amazing” partner.

Picture: Facebook

Waiting a long time to get married can feel almost criminal. Clearly, one woman took this quite seriously and allegedly decided to take her man to court for failing to take the next step and get married after eight years together.

According to Kenyan news site Tuko, a Zambian woman named Gertrude Ngoma (26) grew tired of waiting for her longterm boyfriend and father of her child, Herbert Salaliki (28), to say ‘I do’. Despite a dowry being paid, the pair have never lived together and no wedding is on the horizon.

She took matters into her own hands and took him to court for wasting her time. During the court case, Ngoma alleged that Salalili had promised to marry her but never followed up. In fact, she had caught him texting another woman.

“He has never been serious, that is why I [brought] him to court, because I deserve to know the way forward and our future,” Ngoma told a Zambian court.

According to Salaliki, he cannot financially afford a wedding and that is why he has not proposed. He also added that Ngoma does not give him sufficient attention in their relationship.

Zambian news site Mwebantu reports that the judge, Evelyn Nalwize, said she cannot do anything as there is no formal marriage. However, she advised Ngoma to sue for breach of marriage contract.

Picture: Pexels

Traditional bridal shower games can be quite overdone. We’ve put together our top 4 bridal shower ideas that will be super helpful for the bride-to-be and also something that she can cherish for a lifetime.

1. DATE-NIGHT JAR

Get a friend to hand out a strip of paper to each guest when they arrive. Ask each guest to write about the best date night they’ve ever had, or a date night idea on the paper. Each guest can drop their idea into a large mason jar and the married couple can pick one out whenever they want to plan a special evening.

2. RECIPE BOX

When you’re sending out the bridal shower invites, attach a blank card to it, for guests to write their favourite family recipe. To avoid duplicate recipes, give each guest a category (snacks, appetizers, mains and desserts). Each guest will bring their recipe card to the shower to compile them all in a cute box. Present it to the bride as a gift.

3. ADVICE/FAVOURITE MOMENT BOOK

Moms and grans will really appreciate this one. Get a scrapbook and ask all of the married women in the family to fill one page of the book with their best marriage advice for the bride;  their favourite memory with the bride and groom and their wishes for the bridal couple. Don’t forget to reach out to the groom’s family as well!

4. ANNIVERSARY BOX

You’ll need envelopes and blank cards for this one. Number an envelope for each guest attending the shower. Each guest’s number will represent an anniversary. Ask them to write a happy anniversary note on their card for the bride and groom. Pop them all in a box and let the bride know that they can only open each envelope when they reach the anniversary number on the envelopes!

Image: Unsplash

If you’re newly engaged, you may be so in love with your ring that you never want to take it off. While fully understandable, an engagement ring is not a typical piece of jewellery.

While an engagement ring is designed to be durable, certain activities can cause it to lose its lustre over time. There are obvious moments in time you shouldn’t wear your engagement ring, like while exercising or doing the dishes or any other type of cleaning that involves detergents. But what about when you rest your head at night?

Sleeping is the least active thing you could do, and for some wearing an engagement ring while closing their eyes won’t cause too much of an issue. Experts are divided on whether it helps or harms.

Some experts argue that an engagement ring is a fine piece of jewellery, and should thus be treated as such and not be worn during activities that could affect it. Others, however, believe sleeping in your engagement ring is a smart way to ensure you don’t lose your jewellery because where else would it be but your finger?

However, there is an argument to be made for rough sleepers. Beyond it being precious, your ring can easily get caught in things like your hair or on your sheets if you’re a particularly wild sleeper. This can create friction and may cause the stone to loosen in the setting. If your stone is lower on the Mohs scale of hardness and thus more fragile, sleeping in it could make it more prone to damage.

The best thing to do is to have a dedicated place on your nightstand where you leave your jewellery. Before you go to bed, just pop the ring off and it will be safe for the night. This will also guarantee that you won’t lose or misplace your jewellery.

Picture: Pexels

Actor Jonathan Bennett, best known for his role as Aaron Samuels in the cult-classic film Mean Girls, is engaged! The actor said yes to boyfriend Jaymes Vaughan, who proposed in a truly memorable way.

According to PEOPLE Magazine, Vaughan went down on one knee and proposed with an original song he wrote for Bennett.

“He wrote me a song! We would always hear songs and think, “Oh that would be our song if just this part or that part were different,” so as a result we didn’t have a song that was “ours”, Bennett told PEOPLE.

Jaymes added: “So while he was in Canada filming The Christmas House for Hallmark, I took a melody that up until now had only be accompanied by chopsticks on my voice notes, and got together with my friend Tanzer, who happens to be a really talented producer and my favorite person to write songs with, and said “Let’s make this magical for Jonathan.” ”

Under the guise of taking family Christmas card photos, Vaughan gathered their closest family together to share in the special moment. He held a sign that read: “We never did find our song, so I wrote it for you,” which caused Bennett to burst into tears when he realised what was happening. 

As their song played in the background, Vaughan got down on one knee to propose.

 

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Congratulations to the happy couple!
Picture: Instagram / Jonathan Bennett

A couple emerged victorious at a recent Cricket match in Australia this past weekend, when their proposal went viral.

During the Australia-India second ODI at Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday [November 29], a man in the stands went down on one knee to pop the question.

The man, wearing an Indian supporter t-shirt, proposed to his Australia-supporting girlfriend. Fellow sports-watchers cheered him on, and commentators also got into the action and narrated the entire proposal.

Of course she said yes, which lead to cheers all around. Even one of the cricket players on the field, Glenn Maxwell, applauded the pair.

Watch the sweet moment here:

Picture: screenshot from video

Actress Megan Markle shocked the world when she announced her engagement to Prince Harry. The style icon opted for an unusal ring design that stands in stark contrast to sister-in-law Kate Middleton’s sapphire sparkler.

The couple announced their engagement at the Sunken Gardens of Kensington Palace on November 27, 2017, about a year after they went public with their relationship.

Wearing a white overcoat and nude heels, the actress went understated with her outfit to allow the focus to be on her engagement ring. The design did not disappoint.

Decorating her ring finger was a three-stone stunner, set on a gold band featuring a cushion-cut centre diamond from Botswana, a country close to Prince Harry’s heart.  Surrounding the centre stone are two round diamonds that once belonged to his mother, the late Princess Diana. The ring was made by royal jeweler Cleave and Company.

Come wedding day, the Duchess of Sessex was presented with her wedding ring, an elegant yellow gold band. The ring was a gift from Queen Elizabeth and, following tradition, was made from rare Welsh gold.

Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Margaret, Princess Anne, and Princess Diana’s wedding rings were all fashioned from the same nugget of Welsh gold which came from a Welsh mine, Clogau St David’s at Bontddu. This gold is more valuable than gold from Australia or South Africa.

While there is only a sliver of the original gold left over, the Queen owns a large nugget of 21 carat Welsh gold which is held by the Crown Jewellers to be used for the royal wedding rings of today. Sarah, Duchess of York, Duchess Kate, and Duchess Meghan Markle all sport wedding bands made from this nugget.

Markle’s marvelous ring underwent a redesign during her pregnancy. Celebrity jeweler Lorraine Schwartz resized and reset the ring to replace the gold band with a thin, yellow gold band set with micro-pavè diamonds.

After son Archie was born, Prince Harry gifted Megan with an eternity ring designed by Lorraine Schwartz. It features a channel setting with gold trim flanking each side of the ring. In another sweet addition, the birthstones of the young family (peridot, emerald, and sapphire) are inlaid on the underside of the ring.

Picture: Instagram / Sussex Royals