A man surprised his girlfriend on Valentine's Day by popping the question with a giant message carved into the sand.
Patrick Dinneen was walking hand in hand with his girlfriend Mags Cleary at Inchydoney Beach in Ireland when she spotted the enormous marriage proposal.
The couple, who have been together for 19 years, had spent the night at a nearby spa on the island, off West Cork, before setting out on a romantic morning stroll along the clifftop, CorkBeo reports.
When they came across the beach, the woman was shocked to see the personalised message which read "will you marry me my Mags Cleary?" etched into the sand.
Passersby were touched to see the heartwarming display of affection which also included a giant heart shape pierced by Cupid's arrow.
Mags, from North Cork, told CorkBeo: "I certainly wasn't expecting to see a proposal on the beach when we were out walking the next morning. I did get a bit of a shock."
The couple, who are parents to Daryl, nine, and Robyn, seven, had been enjoying a rare romantic break.
And Mags had been expecting some sort of development on the wedding front.
She said: "I thought something was up when we were going away, but I thought it might have been when we arrived at the hotel or over the meal that night."
Patrick's nephew helped formulate the romantic proposal by finding a local artist to sketch out the love message in the sand early in the morning at low tide.
Mags said she appreciated the effort that went in to making it a very special Valentine's Day.
She said: "We've been together 19 years so I suppose he had to do something dramatic. He's certainly good with surprises."
The engaged Mags told how her hubby-to-be got down on one knee but did not have the ring with him at the time.
"He knew there was no point as I'd probably want to pick out another one so we went into Killarney yesterday and got one," she added.
The couple have not made and firm plans yet for the wedding but said it is a day that their children will certainly be looking forward to.
