Opinion | Love's a picnic for sunset sweethearts
Jennifer and Ben were friends until a bonfire-lit dinner on the beach made her see him in a new light. Now, after a romantic proposal, they are wed
When Australian software programmer Ben Sinclair invited Jennifer Chan to dine alfresco with him a few years ago, it wasn't a candlelit meal in a restaurant garden he had in mind. It was a picnic.
"He took me to the beach around dinner time and made a small bonfire with wood chips and sticks. We later climbed to the top of a four-metre-high rock and chatted until three o'clock in the morning," Jennifer, a Hong Kong-born architect, recalled.
The couple wed on March 24 on Australia's Gold Coast, with about 80 friends and relatives.
"When we first started hanging out with a group of friends, I didn't really realise he would be the one," Jennifer said. "It wasn't until a mutual friend suggested he could be a potential boyfriend that it hit me how attractive he was." After that it didn't take her long to realise Ben was the right man for her.
"It was one of those clichéd 'you just know' moments," Jennifer, 25, said. "I love his generosity and the way he cares for me. He would do anything for me and has proven that."
Ben was impressed by Jennifer's loyalty and honesty.
"She loves me for who I am and never gives up on me," he said. In August last year, Ben planned a whole day out that would lead to his marriage proposal.