We're excited to announce the finalists in our Jens Hansen Love Stories competition!
We've been searching for Nelson's most romantic stories - whether it be how you met, how you got engaged, or how you celebrate your lives together.
And we've found seven fantastic finalists! Each couple has won $600 worth of Jens Hansen diamond jewellery, and they could win another $1000 if their story is voted the most romantic by the Nelson public. (Voting starts 1 March!)
We had a wonderful photoshoot with the finalists last weeked at Fairfield House. Here is a sneak peek of the couples, and the first paragraph of each of their stories...
LOREN AND TOM HEAPHY
"There’s nothing truly romantic about a 15 year old schoolgirl falling in love with a national running champion. Tom was 2 years my senior and a total babe. It was your classic teenage crush, in which said schoolgirl cut pictures of her heartthrob out of the newspaper and pasted them into her deep and meaningful daily journal. "Dear Diary, one day I’m going to marry Tom Heaphy," the young ingénue wrote. "He’s the hottest guy in town..."
JEFF AND JO COTTON
"On Dec 3rd 2012, Jo came home to find the number 21 on her pillow. She wondered for a while what it meant - then she remembered…There was once a young man named Jeff. He worked in a hairdressing salon. He had lots of clients, but one in particular was special, and her name was Jo. When Jo came to visit, he took his time, keeping her longer than his other clients, just because he loved to talk to her. He told his colleagues that she was the one and he was going to marry her..."
JILL WILLIAMS AND ADAM WOMERSLEY
"Over the years we’d been together, Jill jokingly asked me to marry her on more than one occasion. The next time she asked, I wanted to make sure that I had the right answer - and the ring - ready. Taking notes over the years on Jill’s jewellery likes (notes were needed as a bloke’s memory is not the best when it comes to this sort of thing), I wandered into Jens Hansen one lunch time and in an unprecedented show of romanticism, I set the ball rolling on the design and creation of a stunning diamond solitaire ring.."
CRAIG AND MICHELE LINES
"Today was the day. No cliche but there was not a cloud in the sky, one of those Nelson days when you really can't believe that you do live in paradise. We were getting married in secret, and The Boathouse House was booked.
We stood on the balcony at the Boat House promising our love to each other, then afterwards we were having photos taken, when suddenly... The celebrant came up to us to say that she bad news - the marriage licence that we had just signed was floating out to sea..."
CAROL AND GIUSEPPE SARDELLA
"After my husband and I got married, he had said to me that he would never buy me an eternity ring, even though I hinted many times over the years. I had my engagement ring and wedding ring, so he felt he didn't need to prove his love for me with another.Then one day, the diamond fell out of my engagement ring. I was devastated but luckily I caught it before it could roll away, and taped it back in my ring to keep it safe until I could take it to the jewellers and have it properly set..."
MEGAN ROUCHE AND JAMES SHARPE
"I don't know if our story is the most romantic, but if you knew my fiancé - asking me to marry himis the most romantic thing I've ever seen him do...James is from Rai Valley, born and bred country lad. I'm from Nelson, and when we met I was what he would call a “complete towny.”
James figures if you love someone, then that's all that really matters, a wedding is a waste of time to him –well, that’s what he used to think!.."
LARA CONYERS AND SAM HARRIS
"Sam and I met through mutual friends at high school. He tells me now that the attraction was instant, however his best friend at the time had a thing for me, so under the strict influence of the teenage "boys code," it wasn’t until Sam saved his friend from an oncoming car that he was allowed to ask me on a date.Having finally plucked up the courage Sam asked me (in possibly the least romantic place ever) at our local swimming pool in the UK. I hadn’t seen Sam in that way before, but he was kind and more mature than the other boys I knew. And so we began dating at age 14...."
