An Uxbridge man surprised his girlfriend by popping the question with an amazing barbershop quartet.
Luke Dabbs, 29, prepared the romantic surprise especially for his girlfriend's 32nd birthday, with help from the West Ealing barbershop quartet.
He took his unsuspecting girlfriend of six years, Laura Bristow, for a day out in London before leading her back to the home they share in Montague Road, Uxbridge.
Mr Dabbs chose 1929 song Ain't Misbehaving, written by Fats Waller, as the couple enjoy music from that era and the swing genre and it became “their song.”
He said: “I wanted to do something a little bit out of the ordinary and I thought this would be a really nice way of doing it.
“We're both into swing music and big band music and I've got a bit of a history with it. I used to be a guitarist in my school's big band and I've done some singing with the barbershop before.”
Mr Dabbs, a video editor, arranged for the barbershop quartet, along with friends and family of the couple, to wait in their house to surprise them on their return from London, on June 2.
He said: “What we normally do for each others' birthdays is plan a load of stuff and don't tell the other person, so I used that as a cover.
“I proposed to her on the doorstep, it sounded like it was scripted but it wasn't... she said 'What do we do now?' and I said 'Now we go inside'.
“I opened the door and we had the barbershop starting as soon as the door opened, and we had Disney up on the TV, I made a little DVD of it.
"All our friends were there with Prosecco. It was amazing. The band were amazing.”
Miss Bristow, a customer service manager at London Zoo, was so shocked by the surprise she “didn't know what to do with herself”.
She said: “We stopped outside our front door, and he asked me to close my eyes. I did, and he popped the question down on one knee... I don’t think I knew what to do.
“I asked him if he was joking a couple of times. I went into a bit of shock, so Luke said: 'Is that a yes?', and I said: 'Yes of course'. He put the ring on and I asked: 'What happens now?'
“The barbershop quartet were there and all of our friends and family. The lights were off, it was just candlelight. When the lights came on and everyone was there, it was just amazing. I'm so grateful for what he did.”
The couple, who met through an internet dating website, hope to tie the knot at the end of next summer.
They'll be hoping to keep their love of swing music as a wedding theme and would like to keep it local to Uxbridge.
Miss Bristow added: “We’re going to have like a 1920s prohibitions style theme to carry it forward with cocktails and swing bands.”
