A wannabe bride was so keen to marry the love of her life she proposed to him in the middle of a busy high street.

Sharon Chapman got down on one knee in pouring rain and produced an engagement ring before her stunned boyfriend Paul Hewitt.

After spluttering and stammering in surprise he decided to say yes in front of delighted shoppers.

Sharon decided February 29 - when women traditionally have the prerogative to ask for their man's hand in marriage - gave her the perfect excuse to pop the question.

The 24-year-old, of Hutton Road, Shenfield, first paged Paul, also 24, at his work in Southend.

But he thought it was a joke and ignored the message.

Undeterred, student Sharon decided to make the trip to Southend. After buying a ring she dashed to Next to replace her jeans with a smart new outfit.

Then she raced to Paul's work and sweet-talked his boss into letting him delay a meeting at McDonald's in Southend High Street.

She said:"I was thinking if he didn't mention the pager message I'd delay and ask him somewhere nice that evening but he started joking about it.

"In the end I knelt down in the rain outside McDonald's in my outfit. I was very nervous. He was laughing but afterwards he was very shocked."

Paul, of The Rising, Billericay, said: "I was speechless."

The couple, who met in November at their Brentwood church, are now planning to wed later this year.

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