THE sky literally was the limit when Stuart Armstrong proposed to his partner Amber following a 15,000 foot jump from a plane.

He organised a surprise skydive for her on holiday in Dubai and waited on bended knee on the ground in the middle of a giant red heart where a banner read 'Will You Marry Me?'

For Amber both the skydive and proposal were a dream come true. But the ever-changing regulations regarding Covid proved stressful - despite her being a professional wedding planner. Now, living under our third national lockdown, Amber is just relieved they managed to get married before the latest lockdown.

Recalling the proposal she said: "We go to Dubai every year so the holiday was not a surprise and masked the fact that something was happening. We stayed in the usual place at The Palm and on day one he asked me to dress in jeans even though it was 48 degrees! He said just trust me and we got a taxi and arrived at Sky Dive Dubai. I'd always wanted to do it so thought that was the surprise.I did a tandem skydive and as we came in to land my instructor said look over there and I saw the big heart and Will You Marry Me.

He said do you want to land on it? I said yes. Stuart just asked me if I was ok and gave me a big hug - the adrenaline was pumping, then he got back on one knee and proposed.

"We originally had our wedding booked for June but had to postpone. We then rebooked for September but with all the rules changing on a regular basis it was touch and go. We also had to cancel our evening reception as this wasn’t allowed and also had to finish the evening at 10pm.

"I've seen so many weddings; I knew what I wanted and what works well so it was a quick turn around. I had lots of ideas and knew all the suppliers."

They married at Bournemouth town hall on September 26 with 30 wedding guests, including four bridesmaids and had a wedding breakfast at Neo. The evening reception for over 100 was cancelled.

Amber adds: "Planning the wedding was second nature but the not knowing was so stressful. There were so many rumours of another lockdown, reducing numbers, not being allowed to have any guests- we couldn’t actually relax until the day of the wedding.In the end the planning wasn't the enjoyable experience I'd envisaged and I just wanted the day to be here. It was surreal and I woke in the morning thinking can anything go wrong?I finally started to relax when I got my makeup done. When I got to the town hall I just started crying when the registrar spoke to me as I was so relieved!

"The best memory was seeing all my friends and family in one place. We hadn’t seen some family and friends for months. To have everyone in the same room laughing together was so precious. Our first dance was ‘You are the Reason’ by Calum Scott and Leona Lewis in front of our guests and then everyone joined in.Friends and family were the most important thing. As a wedding planner and bride, it bought the true reason for weddings back to the forefront. It’s not about the money or what it looks like on Instagram, it’s all about having the people you love around you.

*Mostly all of Amber's suppliers were local companies.

The dress was from a shop in Dorchester. Decorations were from The House of Styling based in Ringwood and her flowers were from By Arrangement.