Top Gere for M&S wedding proposal

A Marks and Spencer employee was swept off her feet at work when her boyfriend re-enacted a scene from hit movie An Officer And A Gentleman to propose.

At first Martine Diamond, 39, a store displays manager in Talbot Green, south Wales, thought she was being asked to deal with a difficult customer.

But instead she was confronted by Tony Brown, 37, in a white naval uniform.

He took the Richard Gere role from the 1982 film to pop the question. She said yes - and they plan to marry in 2008.

She said: "I went into work as normal. It was my birthday and my boyfriend had asked me to meet him after work to go for a meal.

"When I got into work, every time I went to go on a break I was asked to do something else.

"Then I was asked to see a customer who was complaining about a transaction, so I came out onto the floor and I had a weird feeling because there were lots of people there.

"Then I heard our song, Robbie Williams' 'Feel' being played and I noticed Tony on the escalator wearing a white Officer and a Gentleman uniform."

She met her boyfriend, from Cathays, Cardiff, five years ago on a blind date and had told him previously that the film scene was her fantasy proposal.

In the 1982 film, Gere's character Zack goes to a factory in full uniform, to propose to Paula, played by Debra Winger. The movie is also well known for its theme song, Up Where We Belong.

She said: "When we watched the film I said to him 'can you imagine that? A Monday morning and you just get whisked away. What a beautiful way to propose to someone'.

Spa day

"But I just couldn't believe he had actually done it. It was incredible.

"He got on one knee and said 'Martine Diamond, will you marry me?'. I just said 'Of course I bloody will'.

"I wasn't aware at the time but all my friends and my mum and dad were there watching."

Her partner, who owns a locksmith firm, carried her off for a spa day and champagne at a nearby hotel.

"I just can't believe the amount of planning that went into it and my colleagues can't stop talking about it," she said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/6170350.stm