Two weeks before Ryan planned to propose to Paige, one of her best friends became engaged on a boat in front of the Burj Al Arab. It was precisely the setting he had chosen. With his own proposal approaching, Ryan needed another plan, and Ankur from Proposal Dubai helped him find one. They settled on a helicopter.
“I don’t regret it. I’m so happy we did it, because I don’t know anybody that’s ever had a proposal like that,” Ryan says.
Their story begins at 14, when they lived on neighbouring streets in the UK. They attended different schools and spent time together afterwards, playing games and doing whatever occupied them as teenagers. They even dated for two weeks. “We never fell out or anything. We were just kids being kids,” he says.
They stayed connected through Facebook and Instagram as their lives moved on. Paige qualified as a teacher and moved to Dubai in her mid-twenties. While she was living there, they began speaking again, seven years before this interview, in May.
That summer, Paige returned to the UK and they spent time together. When she went back to Dubai in August, she invited Ryan to visit in October. His first trip to the city became the point at which he recognised how serious his feelings were. “That was a weird experience, like flying halfway around the world for a girl you aren’t really in a relationship with,” he says. “I’ve never done that, so I guess that was a moment that is quite serious, I guess.”
Covid arrived the following March, leaving them to navigate a relationship across countries. Ryan recalls their longest separation lasting perhaps six or nine months. By the time he planned the proposal, finding something unique mattered to him. The last-minute change brought a challenge Ankur helped resolve, and Ryan remains delighted with the helicopter they chose. On the day, the surprise nearly unravelled before they left their hotel room. Ryan had arranged for congratulations, flowers, champagne and chocolates to await their return, giving the hotel their departure time. As they dressed, he began worrying that someone might arrive early.
He deliberately positioned himself beside the door. Then came a knock. With Paige nearby, Ryan could hardly explain why the delivery needed to come back later. He closed the door after a hurried response. “No, no, not for us, not for us, thank you,” he remembers saying.
Paige thought he had been rude and told him so. Afterwards, when she understood, she laughed. The gifts were waiting when they returned.
They were holidaying with Paige’s family, whose presence made the occasion particularly special. Asked what he remembers most vividly, Ryan describes a feeling he still struggles to compare with anything else. “I just remember feeling, I guess the best way of describing it is euphoric,” he says. “I wish everyone could experience that feeling at least once in their life.”
Their immediate celebration involved a practical errand. The ring did not fit, so they took a taxi to the Dubai jeweller where Ryan had bought it for an alteration. That evening, he recalls eating with family, followed by brunch at Caesars Palace the next day.
Now proud parents to two children and, at the time of speaking, four weeks from their wedding, they hope to move to Dubai. Ryan credits Ankur with arranging and facilitating a moment that remains extraordinarily special to them both. His thanks come with an affectionate qualification about calling it the best moment of their lives, given their two children together. “Dubai will have a special place in our hearts,” he says.