Hollyoaks star Jamie Lomas is engaged to girlfriend Jess Bell after three years of dating.
The actor, 48, best known for playing bad boy Warren Fox on the Channel 4 soap on and off since 2006, popped the question during a candlelit dinner at the couples favourite restaurant in Cancún, Mexico, leaving 34-year-old Jess stunned.
The soap star told OK! he had been meticulously planning the proposal for weeks and felt Mexico was the perfect place for the grand gesture.
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“I had been planning it for a while and I wanted it to be perfect,” he told the publication.
“We’d been in Lake Como a few weeks earlier but we both adore Mexico and I thought, ‘Where better than in our favourite restaurant in our favourite resort in our favourite country?'”
(Image: REX/Shutterstock)
The acting favourite admitted he told staff that it was his birthday, meaning they would “make a fuss” by bringing out sparklers and champagne but would also prevent Jess from suspecting anything.
Jamie continued: “Of course, all the restaurant staff were in on the surprise. So they emerged with a cake, singing and clapping with Jess sitting there thinking it was all going well and all about me and my supposed birthday.
“And then they changed the music that was playing to Marry You by Bruno Mars.”
Proposing in front of the entire restaurant, Jess gushed “it was amazing and so very emotional” as she was presented with a one-carat-plus marquise diamond ring.
(Image: Instagram)
“I wasn’t expecting it at all. It was a total shock,” she added. “We managed to get a video of the whole proposal, too. It’s lovely to re-watch and remember. It still makes me cry!”
Jamie and Jess first met through mutual friends on a night out, with the actor explaining the foundations of their relationship were built on friendship.
He told OK!: “We built the friendship first – we both thought that was important – and then something deeper grew out of that. Then one day I came home and noticed her toothbrush had taken up residence in the bathroom. Then it was deodorant and perfume.
(Image: Instagram)
“Next thing she’d moved an entire shelf of her stuff in. And now I can’t get rid of her!”
The couple admitted they are looking at having their wedding in Vegas, perhaps officiated in a chapel by an Elvis impersonator.
“I am a huge fan of The King,” said Jess who explained his music has been a huge part of her life.
While Jamie is already a doting father to Polly, 12, who he shares with ex-wife Kym Marsh and 17-year-old Billy from a previous relationship, he also shares two fur babies with Jess; dachshunds, Brian and Jeffrey.
(Image: INSTAGRAM)
Discussing life beyond their upcoming nuptials, Jess, who has been a qualified dentist for 12 years, revealed she would love to go into business with her beau.
“We would love to start a business together,” the blonde beauty declared. “I’d like us to work as a team – I have the dentistry skills and Jamie has the marketing knowledge. We both like the idea of helping to make a difference.”
Gushing over his future wife, Jamie went on to say: “Jess and I are made for each other; we are like two peas in a pod. And now I’ve asked her to marry me. I’m stuck with her. I couldn’t be happier!”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
