Harrogate Christmas market opens with marriage proposal

A shopper at the Harrogate Christmas market was left in tears of happiness and when her partner proposed after 'weeks' of preparations.

Helen Storey and Paul Finch had come down from Newcastle to do some Christmas shopping at the Harrogate Christmas market today.

But Helen had no idea the surprise that was to come this afternoon at 4.30pm, when Paul requested that a busker at the market play one of the couple's favourite songs - Shut Up and Dance by Walk The Moon.

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After weeks of secret preparations, Paul hatched a plan with a busker at the market, who agreed to play the song at Paul's request, but then changed the lyrics of the second verse to "Paul thought it would be cinch, to ask if Helen would be Mrs Finch".

Through tears of happiness and surrounded by applauding shoppers, Helen said yes and the crowds cheered.

Paul said: "We love Harrogate, we come here a lot and we love it here, it's the atmosphere and just how lovely it is.

"I was thinking about ways that I could ask her. We were out having a flying lesson and I thought about asking her on the plane but then she said oh you could have got a banner saying 'will you marry me?' so I thought I can't do it now.

"There's been a few week of planning gone into it but now it's finally happened! We are going to Dubai in December and I promised her we would be engaged by the time we were there."

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