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Home / Lifestyle

Pride Parade pair make plans for dream wedding and family

NZ Herald
24 Jul, 2016 01:14 AM3 mins to read

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Moment police officer broke ranks in London Pride parade to propose to Kiwi boyfriend. Photo / Supplied

Moment police officer broke ranks in London Pride parade to propose to Kiwi boyfriend. Photo / Supplied

Their very public proposal brought London's Pride Parade to a halt.

Now three weeks on Kiwi Jonathan Sammons and his British police officer fiance Philip Adlem aren't just planning their dream wedding - they're also planning to have a family.

A uniformed Adlem got down on bended knee during the parade through the English capital - which involved more than 40,000 people and where more than 1 million lined its central London route - and proposed to Sammons.

The Auckland-born Sammons didn't hesitate to say "Yes", before the pair embraced and kissed. Footage of their declaration of love quickly went viral around the globe.

As they celebrate engaged life, Sammons told the Herald the pair had wasted no time in planning for the future - including their desire to become fathers.

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"Philip has always wanted kids - we're looking at all the options at the moment," he said.

"There are so many."

They have been a couple since meeting on a dating website 18 months ago.

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"We chatted for ages - it was clear that he loved family which was great and really refreshing,"

Adlem was a member of an 80-strong group of uniformed Metropolitan Police officers marching in parade celebrating the rainbow community.

And his public proposal beat Sammons to getting down on one knee, with the Kiwi revealing he was planning on proposing at Milford Sound when the couple holiday here in December.

"I can't beat this, my plan was blown out of the water," he said.

Sammons grew up in South Auckland but spent much of his time in Kaitaia and Rangiputa, in the Far North. His family still have a house in the area, where he and Adlem will go in December before travelling through the South Island.

For 15 years he has lived in London, where he owns a recruitment agency for education personnel.

Since the public proposal was televised in the UK, there has been a tidal wave of support.

The footage has come in handy for Sammons, who said the moment of his partner's proposal had been a blur.

"Both of us got this tunnel vision thing happening, and we didn't really know the impact, or what was going on around us, until I saw the video later."

After the proposal, a friend handed them a glass of bubbles each.

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"Philip went to take it, but thought better of it and gave it back," Sammons said.

"He was holding up the whole parade - so had to get it over and done with within a couple of minutes and then carry on again."

Sammons and Adlem plan to wed next October in London.

And this week they received a helping hand in their preparations.

Students studying gay pride this week provided the pair with several potential wedding invitation designs.

Sammons described the initiative and the designs as "really cool", and said he and Adlem would adopt an element from each entry in the invitations they will send out to loved ones.

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