Mark Oakes is over the moon. While chatting on Jacaranda FM's The Breakfast with Martin Bester this week, Oakes told listeners how he had to think outside of the box when it came to proposing to his girlfriend Maxine over the weekend.
With restaurants and just about everything else closed under level 4 of the lockdown, Oakes had to make do with what he had and it paid off. "One can't let a pandemic stand in the way of the important things in life," said Oakes.
He had everything planned out. The couple's initial plans were to go away for the weekend, but for obvious reasons, that didn't materialise. Oakes said they ended up having a little "proposal picnic" in the backyard and a rather interesting arts and crafts ring "because one still needs a ring".
Listen to the interview below:
Supplied by Jacaranda FM
And here's where he had to get creative. He said he made the ring. "We have a rather interesting looking ring."
When asked to explain the ring, he added: "This was version five of the ring. A fair amount of tin foil got used in the process, and it all had to be kept secret at the time - now that's very difficult to do during lockdown."
Laughing, Oakes said that the final product is actually a key-ring with a bunny bell for the jewel. "So it's a ring that rings."
Laughing, Oakes said that the final product is actually a key-ring with a bunny bell for the jewel. "So it's a ring that rings."
Because of their close proximity to each other, he admitted that pulling off the coup took some working through. Both he and Maxine had to scribble into their shared calendar "proposal" with Maxine waiting in suspense for two whole days.
Lucky for Oakes, she said yes. Congrats to the lucky couple!