ONE of the first couples to enter the Journal’s fantastic Win Your Wedding competition are Mark Hodder and his fiancée Fay Mandeville from Durrington, who recently got engaged in Jersey on Mark’s 30th birthday.

The couple met at work, have been together for about five years and hope to marry in January.

“She had no idea I was going to propose,” said Mark. “We were on the beach looking in rock pools and I put down the ring for her to find.

“There was a bit of a scary moment when I thought it was going to be taken by a swooping seagull.

“But, luckily, the seagull flew away and Fay said ‘yes’.”

Unfortunately Mark, who worked in the building trade, was recently made redundant and he found out about the Win Your Wedding competition when he bought the Journal to look for jobs.

“I think there are a lot of people in my position who would like to save for a wedding but are finding it difficult at the moment,” he said.

“When I saw this Win Your Wedding competition in the paper I thought it would be perfect for us and decided to give it a go.

“We want to get married in January as we thought it would be a bit different and a nice thing for our families and friends to look forward too. It would be lovely if there was a light dusting of snow.

“Also, we don’t want to wait too long because we know we want to get married and are looking forward to spending the rest of our lives together.”

To vote for Mark and Fay call 09011 511 106 or text WEDDING 106 to 80360.