A North East man proposed to his partner on a popular beach with the help of a unique sand art creation shaped like her engagement ring. Matt Morris, 31, and Rebekah Gardner, 32, from Shiremoor, became engaged on King Edward's Bay in Tynemouth at around 6.30am on Friday.
The Creative Proposal
Matt commissioned a local sand art company, Soul 2 Sand, to design an engagement ring in the sand with a question mark inside. He then persuaded Rebekah to join him for an early morning walk along the beach, where he popped the question.
Rebekah accepted and told ChronicleLive: "I was so overwhelmed with emotion and it still doesn't feel real. For a few days leading up (to it) Matt kept asking to get up early for a walk. But, because he had also arranged for us to have a house warming party that night with our closest friends, I kept being grumpy and saying 'No, let's have a lie in instead'. Good job I got out of bed after all!"
Meaningful Location
Matt, a general manager for Asda, explained his reasoning: "I didn't really want anything that was going to be flashy or abroad. I wanted something that was going to be meaningful for us rather than a location we have no connection to. We normally go for a walk on our day off along the coast so the plan was to just do that. We love Tynemouth, grabbing a coffee and walking along the front - and we've spent time down at King Eddie's Bay over the years. I'd seen last year some sand art and thought that would be a class idea, especially early in the morning because there wouldn't be many people around and it would be quiet."
Attention to Detail
Matt did his research and contacted Claire Eason, the sand artist behind Soul 2 Sand. He wanted something subtle: an engagement ring in the sand with a question mark in the middle. "I actually sent Claire, the sand artist, a picture of Rebekah's engagement ring. So the ring itself is actually mirrored on Rebekah's engagement ring as well," he said.
He even did a trial run the day before to ensure perfect timing. On the day, they drove to the beach, with Matt feeling nervous but Rebekah unaware. "We were driving along, I was dead fidgety but Rebekah didn't really pick up on it at all. Then we got to King Eddie's and we normally just walk along the front but I said 'Come on let's go down the stairs this time'. The stairs are dead steep so I could see the ring but Rebekah didn't even see the ring because she was focusing on the stairs that much. I said to Rebekah 'Come on, let's just go on the beach, we'll have a wander down'. So we got down the next flight of stairs onto the beach and Rebekah was like 'What we doing? Why are we walking along here? Why are we on the beach?' I think the alarm bells started to ring then. We stood inside the engagement ring and the rest is history I guess!"
A Long-Standing Connection
Rebekah, an account manager, added: "I had suspicions because he asked my dad out for drinks a few months back but because we were going on holiday I thought it might have happened whilst we were away." The couple have been together since July 2023 but first met at an Arctic Monkeys gig in 2012. They plan to marry in the summer of 2028.
Craig Finnigan, owner of Geordie Gifts in Newcastle's Grainger Market, captured the proposal on video while going for a dip at King Edward's Bay. The 37-year-old from Wallsend said: "We were about to walk down to the beach. We spotted the ring in the sand and the proposal literally happened there and then. 30 seconds later we would have missed it!"
