Couple ‘shocked’ after proposal photos go viral in hunt on X
The couple were spotted by a number of onlookers during their proposal in Bourton-on-the-Water on Saturday.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A couple from Salisbury have described their “shock” after photos of their proposal went viral on X, formerly Twitter, as a social media hunt ensued in order to find them.
X user Jen took a series of photos of Mac Sullivan, 24, proposing to his now fiancee Alicia Rockall, also 24, on Saturday afternoon at Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire.
In a bid to send the photos to the duo, she shared one of the images via an X post that same day asking for help to locate them, with the post having garnered over 4.2 million views since and the mystery pair being found within 24 hours.
“It’s all been a bit of a whirlwind,” Jen, who lives in Gloucester, but did not want to share any further details, told the PA news agency.
Speaking about capturing the now viral moment, she said : “(My husband and I) sat by the big Christmas tree (in Bourton-on-the-Water) and sat there people watching for a while and I looked to the left, where the little bridge is, where the actual photo was taken.
“There were lots of people walking across it and then I saw a couple walk onto the bridge and for some reason, I was quite captured by them and I could see that the man was sort of positioning himself and I said to my husband, ‘I think he’s going to propose’, so I thought I’d take some photos.”
She said she aimed to share the photos with the couple, but lost sight of them, so turned to X.
By Saturday evening, one of the couple’s friends, Callum Haley, who Ms Rockall met at school in sixth form, reached out to Jen and by Sunday, Ms Rockall contacted Jen.
“She was really lovely,” Jen said about Ms Rockall.
A further post from Jen on X on December 17 announcing the couple have been “found” garnered close to 100k views.
Ms Rockall, an account manager at a marketing agency, said she and her fiance were “shocked” to discover and see the post go viral.
She added they were both “just enjoying the moment” and had no idea that it was going viral online.
“I think we probably had about 25 of our friends message us who had seen (the post),” she told PA.
“I got a message from Callum and it said, ‘this is really random and a bit awkward if it’s not you, but is this you and Mac on Twitter?’,” followed by a link to Jen’s post on X.
“Immediately, I just went ‘oh my God’.
“I had a look, indeed it was us, and at that point it had about 5,000 likes.
“Both of us were just shocked.”
She said Jen was “absolutely lovely”.
“I’ll probably send her a photo when the wedding does roll around,” she added.
Ms Rockall added that not only had her fiance created “this moment of happiness for the two of us” but he had “created joy for a lot of other people” on social media, which she said was “really beautiful in itself”.
“People in the comments were reminiscing about their own engagements and their grandparents’ engagements, and that’s really lovely,” Ms Rockall said.
“Social media can be a dark place but I’m glad this story is wholesome and warms some people’s hearts which is brilliant to be a part of.”
The couple were on a trip to the area at the time, with Ms Rockall saying it was a place the pair had “discovered early on in (their) relationship”, adding that they “try to go back every year”.
“I was completely shocked, in the best way,” she said.
“I never thought he would do it in public and so to have a little bit of a crowd around us was really lovely.”