B r o o k e & D av i d
PictureS by emma barrow
Lucky gym Brooke Graddon & David Youldon
A
nyone who’s seen the old rom com Perfect – the one with John Travolta and Jamie Lee Curtis grinding at the gym as if they were in an Eric Prydz video – knows a fair few relationships start here, and so it was with Brooke and David, who met when Brooke was working as a personal trainer four years ago, and her boss interviewed David for a job. “As
he came up the gym stairs, I turned to my boss, Ben, and said, ‘If you don’t hire him, I quit!’ Luckily, he got the job!” So David made an impact then all right, though less so on their first date – “I honestly can’t remember what we did,” Brooke says. She does, however, remember the proposal. “It was December 2015, and we were holidaying in Antigua, where my parents have a place,” she remembers. “One morning I went for a run with my dad, then Dave told me to pack a bag. At this point, my heart was racing! He hired a luxury car to take us to a helipad, and from there we went to the island of Barbuda, where he found a deserted beach with pink sand. The helicopter landed on the beach and we spent the afternoon there. This is where he proposed. He had Champagne in his bag, waiting. From there he took me to the gorgeous Cocobay Resort, back on Antigua, for the night – and all my family turned up for dinner. It was an unbelievable day. The boy did good!” The couple were engaged for a year and a half, giving Brooke plenty of time to sort the wedding – pretty much on her own. “Dave VOW | 59