It's time to pop the corks and celebrate

NATIONAL NEWS - Our former Miss Universe, Sedgefield's Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, has become engaged to her American sports star boyfriend, Tim Tebow.

In a romantic setting at the Tebow family farm in Jacksonville, Florida on Wednesday 9 January, Tebow proposed to Nel-Peters. The pair have been dating since last April after meeting through Tebow's non-profit organisation's beacon event, Night to Shine.

His proposal was delicately planned and took Nel-Peters totally by surprise.

The former NFL quarterback and current Major League Baseball outfielder for the New York Mets secretly flew Nel-Peters' parents - father and stepmother Bennie and Elzabé Peters and mother and stepfather Anne-Mari and Johan Steenkamp - and some of her closest friends to the US for the occasion.

Tebow also flew in South African artist Matthew Mole to play Demi's favourite song for them as he popped the question.

Flashing her flawless 7,25 carat diamond engagement ring, Nel-Peters said she was ecstatic and hadn't stopped smiling since Tebow popped the question. "Any dreams I've ever had, Tim you've exceeded them all! I love you and I can't wait to spend forever with you!"

In an interview with the American Today show last year, Tebow revealed that meeting Nel-Peters was as a result of "seizing the moment". He also opened up about his relationship with Nel-Peters to ESPN in July, saying that he's "usually very private with these things but I am very thankful. She is a really special woman and I am very lucky and blessed to have her coming into my life."

On Friday 11 January, the couple celebrated their recent engagement with a trip to the happiest place on earth, the Magic Kingdom theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida.