Here at Virgin Balloon Flights, we teamed up with Daffodil Waves Photography to offer one loved-up couple the chance to win a photoshoot in the skies on board one of our balloons.
The competition asked couples for their proposal story and a picture from their engagement. The lucky winners were Zoe Westerman and Richard Griffiths from Sully in Cardiff. Their fantastic photo showed
Richard’s proposal to unsuspecting Zoe on top of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
“It happened on Christmas day. It was all a complete surprise to me, my amazing fiancé had arranged it all in secret, and he even asked my dad’s permission without me knowing. I have always dreamt of going up in a hot air balloon, however, it is something I have never got around to organizing. This is the perfect surprise prize for my other half, after all the great surprises he has organised for me over the last 12 months!”
On the peaceful evening of 25th June, Zoe and Richard took to the skies from Berrington Hall in Herefordshire. Their shoot began on the ground in the beautiful surrounding gardens; photographer Nicola (Daffodil Waves Photography) captured their excitement with some action shots of the pair together pre-flight. Richard got stuck in straight away, helping to unpack the balloon before taking a step back to enjoy the magnificent inflation.
Zoe and Richard told us their favourite part of the flight was the take-off and landing. “It wasn’t what we expected as it didn’t really feel like we were off the ground until we peered over the basket to realise we were mid-air!” Floating in the skies, they were relaxed as ever, looking out the basket to the superb sites below. The soon-to-wed couple said their pilot Des Bimson was very knowledgeable and they were impressed with the seamless landing just south of Leysters.
Pilot Des Bimson shared his views on the flight.
It was a beautiful evening, the visibility was excellent which meant that the view at 3000ft was stunning. The light winds meant that we exited the grounds of Berrington Hall at a very slow pace, giving the passengers a good chance to take in the views of its beautiful grounds. Initially, we travelled towards the south west however due to the variable direction of the wind, we ended up flying East over the scenic village of Kimbolton. Zoe and Richard were great and all in all, it was a perfect flight.
The couple who are set to wed next year said they would definitely do another balloon flight and next time would love to try a different location. We wish you all the best for the future and we will hopefully see you up in the air again soon!
Climb on board with us from as little as £169pp, visit our website or call us in the office on 01952 212750 to book now.