Congratulations are in order for parenting and lifestyle vlogger Louise Pentland and her partner Liam O'Neill. The couple have announced their engagement exclusively in HELLO! following a magical trip to Walt Disney World, where Liam popped the question. "Disney World is my happy place," says Louise, 34, a self-confessed "Disney geek", as she shares the details of her engagement for the first time with HELLO! "I knew it was on the cards for us at some point, but I didn't see this coming at all. Liam smashed it."
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Louise is mum to two girls: Darcy, who turns nine next month, from a previous relationship, and two-year-old Pearl, her first child with Liam. "Pearl is too young to understand but Darcy is so happy. When she found out she gave me a big cuddle and said: 'Oh Mummy, I'm going to be a bridesmaid,'" smiles Louise, who met 42-year-old Liam three years ago through the dating app Tinder.
Liam popped the question at Walt Disney World
The special moment took place on the trip to the resort in Orlando, Florida, a holiday Louise had been planning for almost two years and which included her cousins and their children and her aunties. "I decided to propose on the holiday as soon as Louise had booked it; it's her favourite place in the world," Liam tells us. "Darcy always used to say to me: 'You should propose to my mummy at Disney World.'"
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So, on the second night of the trip, Liam took Louise for a romantic evening stroll around Disney's BoardWalk resort, a promenade of restaurants, nightlife and plenty of happy memories for the couple, who stayed there on their first holiday together. Meanwhile, the girls were looked after by family members.
"Liam smashed it," the bride-to-be said of the proposal
"Liam had gone to the bakery to get some cinnamon buns and brought them with us on our walk," says Louise. As Liam explains: "Louise doesn't like cinnamon buns, so there was no danger of her looking inside the box." "Liam then suggested we take a selfie in a gazebo by the lake so we went in – and he told me that there wasn't actually a cinnamon bun in the box. He opened it up and there was a ring box. I started crying and told him to get down on one knee," Louise says of the emotional moment. "The box had an in-built light that illuminated the whole gazebo," says Liam with a smile.
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Inside the box was a stunning gold engagement ring featuring a showstopping oval diamond and a diamond-encrusted band. Liam had been secretly working with former Made in Chelsea star Spencer Matthews and his diamond business, Eden Rocks, for several months to design the sparkler.
Read the full interview in the new issue of HELLO! magazine, out on Monday.
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