A wedding proposal written in the sand delighted onlookers in Dunmore East this weekend.
Waterford sand artist Sean Corcoran designed the proposal for musician Charlie Reader on the Strand beach.
A giant love heart with the words 'Niamh will you marry me?' was in place just in time as Charlie and his long-term girlfriend Niamh strolled up the hill overlooking the beach.
Charlie and Niamh met when her dad booked Charlie's band to play at her 18th birthday. Charlie has been coming to Dunmore East every year since with the family, as Niamh's Waterford-born father Sean is a massive Bluegrass fan and times his trips to come to the annual festival.
Charlie told WLR News he always knew this was a special place, and he would want to propose here:
"Ever since I came to Dunmore I've always known if I was ever going to propose to Niamh I would do it here. It was just a matter of timing and executing it right."
Charlie got in touch with Sean Corcoran and got the ball rolling. He said there was a lot of anxiety hoping the weather would be right and that Niamh wouldn't discover his plan, but in the end it couldn't have been more perfect.
Niamh who is 25 and from Cheshire in England has been traveling to the Co Waterford village with her family since she was a baby. Her dad is from Waterford, and her aunt Francis Curtin still lives here.
Niamh said they haven't been to Waterford since New Year's Eve in 2019 so this trip was already a special one. While she had no inkling of the proposal, she said Charlie was acting a little strange on Friday afternoon;
"My sister was shouting 'wait for me' but Charlie was like a man on a mission, and I thought 'this is a bit odd'. We were walking up the hill and he was talking about the cottages trying to distract me from looking at the beach, then all of a sudden he just stopped and so I turned around to see why he had stopped and I saw the message on the beach and I thought 'oh that's my name' and when I looked at Charlie he was down on one knee."
The romantic moment was captured by Niamh's sister Saoirse. The happy couple are now hoping to get married in the seaside village next year.
