Surprise marriage proposal for childhood sweetheart during Guardia Civil celebrations in Malaga town

A fairly sombre Guardia Civil ceremony in Antequera in Malaga province on Sunday 12 October ended with the potential sound of wedding bells. At the end of the institutional act, which marked Día del Pilar, the patron's day of the Guardia Civil, officer Manuel García Gutiérrez asked his fiancée, María Ángeles Brenes Llamas, to marry him. She had been told that her boyfriend was going to be presented with a diploma, but in the end it was María Ángeles who was presented with something... an engagement ring.

After the institutional act in the courtyard of Antequera town hall, Captain José Antonio Gálvez asked those present to wait for an event that was about to take place and María Ángeles Brenes Llamas was called to the podium.

Luis Manuel García Gutiérrez, escorted by fellow Guardia Civil officers, walked towards the podium, where he stepped forward, got down on one knee, took out a ring and asked María Ángeles to marry him.

The officer is an assistant lieutenant at the Antequera barracks and his fiancee is a teacher in Archidona. Luis Manuel is from Cordoba, is 31 years old and his mother is also a Guardia Civil officer. María Ángeles is from Villanueva de Algaidas, is 30 years old and her father is also a Guardia Civil officer.

They have known each other since they were five years old despite their families having moved several times. They have been dating for ten years and have maintained a long-distance relationship. He has been an officer since 2013 and has been stationed in the Canary Islands, Guadalajara, Madrid, Cordoba and in Antequera for the last three months.

When he found out about his new destination and she was working in Archidona, he decided to ask María Ángeles to marry him on 12 October and he did so without her suspecting anything.