Brave Ashley proposed on way TO holiday

Brave Ashley took to the Tannoy of their Benidorm bound flight to ask partner Chloe Emery to marry him.

The self-employed landscape gardener, who arranged the public proposal with travel company Thomson, left his partner of almost two years in complete shock as he dropped to one knee in front of hundreds of passengers.

Ashley (26), of Catcliffe, said: “It was all planned. The cabin crew gave me the heads up and when the seatbelt sign went off I got straight up and went to speak to them about it.

“They said to get up when they bring the trolleys out. I told Chloe that I kept needing the toilet but all of the time I was planning it.

“I went on the Tannoy and Chloe said to her family: ‘Why is Ash on the Tannoy?’The curtain went back and I could just see everybody looking at me.”

Ash had written a speech on his phone which he read out before ending with the proposal.

“Everybody was crying their eyes out,” he said.

“The pilot said it was the first time ever that someone had proposed using the Tannoy. 

“They’d obviously had proposals on planes before but never over the Tannoy.”

If the pressure of having a flight full of passengers staring at him wasn’t enough, Ash’s audience included Chloe’s daughter Quinn (4), as well as her parents, grandparents and sister.

He said: “Chloe’s dad said to me afterwards: ‘Hey, you’re supposed to ask me first.’”

Chloe (24), who is 29 weeks’ pregnant with the couple’s first child, said the proposal was “amazing”.

She added: “It caught me totally off guard. I used to drop hints that he should propose as I was carrying his baby. I was in shock at first when I heard his voice on the Tannoy. 

“He had done a really big speech and I heard a lot of it but because I was in shock and crying I didn’t quite get it all.”

The couple were treated to champagne, chocolates and flowers on the plane before enjoying their first two weeks as an engaged couple in the soaring Spanish heat.

Chloe said: “The effort he put in was amazing. It was great.”

Ashley and Chloe hope to tie the knot in October 2019 at Wentworth Woodhouse.