Annabel Hopwood knew that when her extrovert boyfriend proposed, he would be shouting it from the rooftops – she just wasn’t prepared to be watching it on national television.
It took Todd Fuller (39) 10 years to pop the question and in what’s believed to be a New Zealand first, the Auckland man booked a $2000 advertisement segment during TV one’s Breakfast to screen the commercial he had filmed himself.
Under the pretence of watching a friend being interviewed on TV, Todd led the unsuspecting Annabel (39) to a cafe, where she laughed at how intently her boyfriend seemed to be glued to the screen – particularly during the ad breaks.
But when she heard her own name being broadcast, Annabel could hardly believe her eyes as she watched Todd ask for permission to propose from, first, her father Bruce, then her friends – who jokingly pleaded, “Don’t do it!”
In an exclusive interview with New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, Annabel says she was still numb with shock as Todd, sitting beside her in the cafe after the ad screened, attempted to put a ring on her finger, asking, ‘Is that a yes?'”
I was in shock,” she laughs. Annabel finally said “yes” and the happy couple were soon toasting their betrothal. Delighted cafe staff asked when the wedding would be – and Annabel’s instant reply, “After the Rugby World Cup!”
“The only stipulation I had was that he had to marry me before I was too old and wrinkly,” Annabel says. This isn’t the fi rst time that Todd has made a grand romantic gesture – but his first attempt didn’t go so well. As a schoolboy smitten with a girlfriend named Kelly, he painted the words “I love you, Kelly, yo, yo, yo” on the grass at Northcote College, which unfortunately led to Kelly dumping him that very day.
But Annabel has become used to Todd’s impulsive streak, ever since they worked together 12 years ago in the New Zealand Herald‘s advertising department. For two years, Annabel, who has a son
Dylyn (21) from a previous relationship, dismissed Todd as a member of the workplace’s “boys’ club”. But when they both attended a big party on Waiheke Island thrown by a colleague, the pair became inseparable in just one night. “We talked all night,” Annabel recalls. “She was wondering why I didn’t hit on her because I hit on all the other women,” Todd explains. “But I knew this was one you shouldn’t chase after because then she’d be keener!”
It was Annabel who got up the courage to ask Todd on a date and, despite a few hiccups along the way, the couple moved in together. As time ticked by, it became clear they both wanted to make it official. Knowing how Todd likes to make a big splash, Annabel expected his proposal to be out of the ordinary.”I knew he would never do anything small – but I still didn’t suspect this. I was shocked,” she says.
“The hardest thing was keeping it a secret,” Todd adds. “I had to make all our friends promise not to tell.” Since Todd’s TV debut the couple have heard from friends in Canada and the US who watched the clip online.
They’ve also had numerous requests for interviews, but chose to share their story exclusively with the Weekly. Their wedding plans are already a potential battleground for the pair. Todd’s dreaming of a big event with a price tag of $75,000, whereas Annabel would be happy to exchange vows on the beach with just 20 friends and family. “We haven’t agreed on anything yet, but I want to make sure that’s special as well,” Todd says.
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