When travel agents called off a trip to Lapland, Christmas lovers Grant Cleverley and his girlfriend Ella Stiles were devastated.

But Grant, (25), had a secret reason to be stunned - he'd been planning to propose to 19-year-old Ella in the romantic setting.

Ella's mum contacted the Manx Independent with news of her daughter's disappointment at not getting her dream holiday and a photocall saw the couple, dressed in snow gear, looking glum.

Then Grant confided in chief reporter John Quirk that the cancellation of the trip - the travel agent had overbooked the flight from the Isle of Man - was even worse news than Ella realised.

The paper quickly stepped in and allowed Grant to pop the question to Ella via the front page of its edition last Friday.

It had champagne and flowers ready for when Grant brought Ella into the paper's reception to buy a copy of the paper. It even produced a special bill poster.

And when an astonished Ella read the proposal, a photographer was on hand to capture the big moment.

"I was very nervous," admitted Grant. "I hadn't eaten properly all week but it was well worth it.

"Looking back, I should have been confident, but there is always that niggling thing and I wasn't 100 per cent sure. But knowing the way we think about each other, I should really have been confident.

"It was brilliant - it could not have worked out better. Ella was reading through it, but she must have scanned down through the story pretty quickly because she hadn't read the proposal.

"Then she took a massive breath and realised. She didn't have a clue. I gave her the ring and asked her if she would marry me and she said yes. I think she was a little bit stunned!"

Grant and Ella, who live in the north west of the Isle of Man, were holding an engagement party today and it will be a double celebration as it's also Ella's 20th birthday.

She said: "Grant must have been so nervous - and I didn't really notice! I had no idea. I knew we were going to be in the paper. I started reading it but I didn't read the whole article.

"But then I read the proposal and thought 'Oh my God'. Grant is a bit mad so I suppose it is kind of like him!"

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