For many of us - there is an established route to finding love: dating for a while, finding The One and eventually marry.
But others are happy to throw convention to the wind - with varying degrees of success.
One couple who got engaged just TWO days after their meeting has told how they've proven everyone wrong as they're still together 11 years on.
Shari Thorpe, 33, met fellow Brit Ryan Thorpe, 33, on a girl's trip to Gran Canaria, Spain, in July 2011 and fell for his charms as soon as she saw him by the pool.
The pair got chatting at the local karaoke bar and hit it off and to Shari’s surprise, Ryan asked her to be his wife after just two days of knowing each other.
The beautician thought it was a joke before Ryan presented her with an engagement ring the very next day, but her heart told her to give him a shot.
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After returning home, the pair continued their relationship but were long-distance - with Shari living in Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, and Ryan more than 300 miles away in Odiham, Hampshire.
Shari took the plunge to move down south in December 2022, after just six months of dating.
Much to their friends and family's surprise the couple remained strong and started a family together in February 2012 - before tying the knot in August 2015.
Now they have three sons together - Cayden, nine, Curtis, five, and Cilian, one - and are still going strong over a decade later.
Shari, a mum-of-three, from Odiham, Hampshire, said: "It’s all so crazy for me still.
"I only ended up going on holiday with my friend because her boyfriend couldn’t go last minute, and I never expected to find a husband.
"As soon as I saw him, I thought he was good looking and when we got chatting, he made me laugh. When he asked me to marry him after just two days of knowing each other, I just thought 'why not?'.
"We had so much chemistry and it just felt like I had to go for it. I’ve never looked back.”
Ryan, who works for a demolition company, said: "I remember telling my friend that is the girl I am going to marry and he said I had no chance.
"But I had instant feelings for her that I'd never felt before. My mates thought I was mental proposing.
"I think knowing people thought it would just be a fling, it pushed us to prove them wrong and make it work.
"It's crazy now looking back on memories and how far we have come."
Shari was on holiday with her work colleague, Christie when she spotted Ryan at the hotel pool.
"I remember telling my friend to put her sunglasses on so she could spy on him," she said.
"I instantly thought he was good-looking.
"It turns out Ryan was eyeing me up too and told his friend he was with I was the girl he was going to marry.”
The pair spoke for the first time that evening in the local karaoke bar.
"He and his friends joked that he was an upcoming singer, but he was actually really good,” Shari said. "I remember him belting out a Westlife song.”
Sweeping her off her feet, Ryan asked Shari to marry him the very next night whilst singing at the karaoke bar.
"I just said 'go on then’ not really realising he was serious,” she said.
"Then he came out with a ring the next day. But I couldn’t not go for it, there was something about him.”
Shari returned to her hometown of Newcastle a few days later and told her parents she had a fiancé.
"I don’t think it really registered with them,” she said.
"Lots of friends and family thought it would just be a fling and that we wouldn't last.
“It was only when I mentioned a few weeks later that Ryan was coming to visit, and I reminded him he was my fiancé that they questioned me.
"But Ryan won them over. He shook my dad's hand as soon as he met him - so my dad was sold.”
After six months of dating, Shari took the plunge to move in with Ryan in Odiham, Hampshire.
"It was all so fast but felt so right,” she said.
Did you ever experience people doubting your relationship? Email rosaleen.fenton@mirror.co.uk
The couple fell pregnant with their first child, Cayden, nine, in February 2012.
"We were young but we both wanted a family and to be married so we didn’t see why we needed to wait,” she said.
The pair also celebrated their one-year anniversary by going back to the spot they met.
"The locals at the bar remembered who we were so it was really sweet,” Shari said.
After saving up for their big day, Shari and Ryan tied the knot in August 2015 and welcomed two more boys - Curtis in October 2016 and Cilian in May 2021.
"We had a lovely day and Ryan sang the same Westlife song he sang to me at the karaoke bar,” she said.
“We want to take all our boys back there to where we met too.
"I think friends and family were sceptical when we got engaged so fast but as soon as they saw us together and we had Cayden together they could see how perfect we were.
"We’re both the type of people that just goes for it and I am so glad I did. 11 years later and we're still going strong.”
