Today Dolly Garland is sharing her engagement story, which I think you'll agree is wonderfully romantic. Let's join her at the abbey...

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I know a lot of women who have an idea of a perfect proposal. I have heard many men worrying about what to do because their girlfriends have very specific requirements. I wasn’t one of them. I hadn’t really thought about proposals, and if I had I would have liked something romantic, but there would have been no more specific requirements than that.

The fact that my husband’s proposal turned out to be just perfect, still makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside even after nearly six years of marriage.

We had been together for just under two months. To say it was a whirlwind romance would be a great understatement. I was in England for a semester, doing a study abroad program from my university in U.S.A. (The picture attached is that of Wroxton Abbey where I was staying at the time.)

Ross and I met in MSN UK chat room, no idea of romance, just as friends. But we ended up talking all night, every night, for about two weeks, and then I went to see him for a weekend. It was a “friend” visit, and that friendship lasted for about 2 hours after we met, and our relationship graduated to boyfriend and girlfriend. This was at the end of October.

I had agreed to stay with Ross for Christmas, and return to New Jersey in January. On December 12, when I was supposed to leave the college and go stay with Ross, he suggested we go for a walk in the grounds. It was drizzling slightly. But I loved walking in those grounds, so we went. A little bit into our walk, he asked me for my glove, said his hand was freezing. I gave it to him. It should have alerted me, but at the time it just didn’t occur to me that it was a silly request since my glove wasn’t going to fit onto his hand. I was just so lost in the moment; logic had no place in it. It was my last day at Wroxton, and though I was thrilled to go stay with Ross, I knew I would miss that place.

We walked up to my favourite spot in the grounds; a little mount where I always went to sit. When we climbed up, ignoring the muddy ground, Ross went down on one knee and asked me if I would marry him.

It was a perfect moment. A movie proposal – with gorgeous abbey in the background, green grounds where it was just the two of us, slight drizzle which is annoying usually but romantic in this situation, and Ross down on his knee, asking me to be his wife.

Of course I said yes.

When we returned to the abbey, I went to say goodbye to my professors and classmates, and told them about the engagement; one of the girls told me I was glowing. I was 19. I had never thought I would get married young. Ross had always believed that he never wanted to get married. And yet there we were…engaged.

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Thanks so much for sharing your engagement story, Dolly. So very romantic.... *sigh*

You can connect with Dolly on her web site (linked above), at one of her blogs, Writer Revealed and Journal Addict , on Twitter @DollyGarland and on Facebook .

Was your engagement romantic? Funny? Awkward? Share in the comments, if you'd like.