Ricky Rayment knew "the first day" he met Marnie Simpson that he wanted to marry her.
Ricky Rayment and Marnie Simpson
The former 'The Only Way is Essex' star proposed to the 'Geordie Shore' beauty in June after six months of dating, but admitted he wanted to pop the question some time ago.
He said: "I've known since the first day I met Marnie that she was the woman I was going to marry but I decided to propose about two months ago.
"I was in Florida with my parents and I told my mum what I was planning - she was so excited that she took me straight out to buy the ring."
Ricky, 24, surprised Marnie with the proposal while she was shooting 'Geordie Shore' in Greece, even though he was originally planning to ask her to marry him when they went on holiday in Italy and his 23-year-old girlfriend admits she'd have preferred it if he had popped the question off camera.
She said: "The proposal itself was perfect, but I've always struggled to show emotion on camera, so I would have preferred them not to have been there. It will be nice to have the footage to look back on in years to come though."
And the couple are already thinking about having children.
Marnie said: "We talk about it all the time. I'd like to have two kids - I want to call our daughter London but Ricky isn't so keen."
Ricky - who previously dated his 'TOWIE' co-star Jess Wright - added to OK! magazine: "It's not happening! I've got 11 nieces and nephews so I'm already broody, I'm hoping we'll start trying on honeymoon."
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