IT WASN’T the most traditional of marriage proposals, but a couple are celebrating after a man popped the question to his girlfriend through an advert in the Comet.

Peter Wickens and Rachel Gort, got engaged after the advert asking “Will you marry me?” appeared in last Thursday’s paper.

Peter, who wrote in the advert he loved Rachel “more every day”, wanted an unusual way to propose to his partner of 18 months.

The 36-year-old, who lives with Rachel in Fore Street, Weston, said: “At first, I couldn’t think how to do it. We’re going to New York for Valentine’s Day, but I thought that was a bit obvious.

“I wanted to do something a bit before that, something different.”

He came up with the advert idea in the end as Rachel, 37, reads the Comet e-edition most Thursday mornings.

But, surprisingly, it took a while for her to spot it.

“Peter told me there was an article about his daughter’s dancing and would I look for it,” Rachel told the Comet.

“I did, but I couldn’t see it, then he rang me and asked had I spotted it on page six. I looked again, then next thing I knew, he was round at my work with the ring.”

Rachel’s 16-year-old daughter Amber, however, did spy the advert early.

“We weren’t going to tell her until she got home,” said Rachel.

“But a girl she knew tweeted a picture of the advert saying how lovely it was, and she looked at it and thought ‘oh my God, it’s my mum’.”

Although Peter, who works as a contracts manager for a London building company, presented the ring in private at her work, Rachel returned to her job at Helpers Homecare in Baldock as normal straight afterwards – albeit for a couple of glasses of champagne with colleagues.

And the proposal itself is a moment the couple are never likely to forget.

“It went really well, it’s just great,” said Peter, while Rachel added: “Everyone is really excited and pleased for us.”

The happy couple hope to tie the knot in the summer of 2014.