I was excited to propose to my girlfriend — until our hotel burned down
Jason Lee Pryer, 21, was stoked to propose to his girlfriend, Melanie Nunne, 21, last week at the historic Royal Albion Hotel in Brighton, England.
He never expected a blazing inferno would dampen the special day.
“We were only staying there for that night. I planned the proposal for a couple months,” Pryer told South West News Service. “I’d stayed there once before, and it was a really nice hotel, so I thought I’d take her there.”
Nunne believed she was hitting the town with her sisters that Saturday night, but really Pryer was preparing the ultimate surprise — complete with balloons, flower petals and drinks.
“Her sister went downstairs and put a blindfold on her and said, ‘We’ve got a surprise for you, just don’t ask any questions.’ She didn’t know I was there,” he explained.
When Nunne walked upstairs, Pryer flung open the door and pushed on with the proposal — despite smelling smoke that he brushed off as an outdoor barbecue.
“She came in. Her sister read her one of the love letters I wrote to her. I stood behind her, I got down on one knee and I proposed to her,” he continued.
As soon as she said “Yes,” they celebrated with a glass of prosecco as a smoky aroma hung in the air.
Nunne went to change her clothes, Pryer recalled, which is when fire alarms began to blare.
Nunne’s mom pulled her from the room and booked it downstairs, as Pryer searched for his new fiancée in the chaos.
“Her sister grabbed me by the arm and said, ‘Jay, we’ve got to go. I don’t know how close it is to us, but we have to go,'” he remembered.
They rushed out of the lower level, eventually making their way to the beach as fiery debris flung from the burning 200-year-old hotel.
“One of the planks of wood that was alight landed next to me. I completely froze, and my partner grabbed me by the arm and said, ‘Jay, we need to go this way,'” he remembered.
Once they located police, they were instructed to find Royal Albion staffers at the Leonardo Hotel, more than a mile away.
Free lodging was reportedly promised to displaced guests on an as-needed basis, but Pryer said it wasn’t offered to them — so they found their own at the nearby Old Ship Hotel.
“I explained to them what happened, and that Mel has bad lungs, pneumonia, and needs to get out of the cold,” Pryer said of Nunne, the mother of a 2-year-old girl.
Thankfully, the Old Ship gave them free drinks, breakfast and coats to keep them warm. The family had not taken their possessions with them (except the wedding ring and its box) as the fire raged.
Now, the couple is attempting to hunt down their belongings, including their phones and overnight clothes.
They claim fire personnel and Royal Albion’s parent company, Britannia Hotels, have not provided answers.
“It’s stressful, not knowing what’s going on. It does hurt,” Pryer said.
