A 26-year-old British man, Albert Ndreu accidentally burned down his apartment while proposing to his girlfriend with more than 100 candles in the United Kingdom.
Ndreu spent four hours on Monday setting up 60 balloons and lighting 100 candles to pop the question to his girlfriend, Valerija Madevic.
After setting up his decor and spelling out “Marry Me?” with the candles, the man left to invite his soon-to-be fiancée. Music was playing, and a bottle of Chianti was waiting to be uncorked.
When they returned, they saw that the tea light candles he used to spell out “Marry me?” caught fire and burned down their Sheffield, Yorkshire, home, which they moved into a month ago.
“We walked up the stairs to the flat and there was smoke everywhere. I told him to call the firefighters because our house was on fire,” remembered Madevic. “I was in total shock. I was shaking because it looked like it was really bad.”
Despite the smoke and property damage, Ndreu, got down on one knee amid the rubble and Madevic was shocked when he popped the question.
“He pulled out a box from his pocket and I was just speechless,” she said. “He said that he messed up — our house was literally in flames — but asked me if I would marry him. And I said yes.”
“The best news? She still said yes,” Ndreu said. “I was so worried about everything going wrong I never imagined I could set the house on fire.
The bride-to-be expected something was wrong when he picked her up from work with flowers in tow.
“When I got the flowers, I thought he must have broken something or destroyed something in the house,” she said. “Little did I know he had destroyed our entire living room.”
The couple, who met a year ago on a dating app, are now living with Ndreu’s cousin while their home is repaired. Only a laptop, some books and a speaker were permanently damaged.
“In the end, we’re in good health and we’re together, and that’s all that matters,” said Madevic. “You can replace things in the house, but not our love for each other.”
They plan to wed on the one-year anniversary of the fire, and hope to invite the local fire department to thank them.
“I hope this serves as a warning for others that maybe there is such a thing as too much love, or too many candles,” said Ndreu.
KanyiDaily had published a video showing the moment a lady rejected her boyfriend’s marriage proposal because he didn’t kneel down to give her the ring.
