A PAIR of journalists are celebrating this weekend, after one used The Press to propose while visiting the city.

Libby McBride and her boyfriend Sam Balls were visiting the city for a short break to celebrate Libby's birthday this weekend.

The destination was a surprise to Libby, but Sam had another surprise up his sleeve - a notice in the Personal Announcements section of Friday's edition of The Press, asking her to marry him.

Sam, 27, said: "We had been to the USA in September for Libby's birthday and I'd got us tickets to see Drake in Miami, but he cancelled, so I owed her a birthday present.

"We wanted to go to York so thought 'brilliant, that's a surprise trip'. I thought it felt like the right time to pop the question as well, so I got a ring and the journalist in me wanted to make it a bit special so I put an announcement in Friday's paper."

Sam, who formerly worked for the Essex Chronicle and is about to start a new role in PR with Right Move, said the trip had been so busy, he almost forgot to pick up a copy of the paper, but rushed out to buy one before the couple went for drinks.

He said: "I planned to do it just before dinner. We were walking round the Minster and I lost my bottle a bit, but they were going to lock the grounds up. I thought 'it's now or never', so I gave Libby the paper and told her the clue to her birthday present was on page 40, then as she looked at it, I got down on one knee."

The proposal quoted the couple's "road trip song" - Dibs by Kelsea Ballerini - from their trip to the US in September, and while Libby, 26, who is digital editor with The Cambridge News, said she was very happy with the destination, she had not expected a proposal this weekend.

She said: "The only thing I wanted was a pair of trainers! He hadn't told me where we were going for dinner, so I thought there might be an advert for the place we were going to dinner on page 40.

"When I saw it on saw he was on his knee I think I just covered my face with the paper. I was so shocked and I'm told my first sentence to Sam was 'why did you put it in one of our rivals'?"

The couple celebrated with dinner at Zills in Gillygate, though Libby admitted she "had to get Sam to order for me because I couldn't even take in the menu, I was so shocked".

As well as buying "all the copies on the stand", before heading home, Libby took to social media to announce she had accepted Sam's proposal.

The couple also said that although their wedding plans were just getting started, a return to York would be on the cards.

Libby said: "It's early days, so we don't have a date set. We're buying a house next year, so maybe 2020. We're thinking possibly York for the honeymoon, but we'll definitely be back."