Couple film marriage proposal minutes before hotel burns down

By Pol Allingham via SWNS

A young couple filmed their romantic marriage proposal just minutes before being forced to flee a seaside hotel inferno.

Jason Lee Pryer, 21, had spent months planning his proposal to Melanie Nunne, also 21, at the 200-year-old Royal Albion Hotel in Brighton, England.

Neither could have expected that minutes after she said "yes" they would be running from the blazing hotel, having left all of their possessions in the room except the wedding ring and its box.

Melanie believed she was getting ready for a night clubbing with her sisters, meanwhile, her partner was secretly preparing a surprise.

Aided by Melanie’s two sisters, Jason set the room up with balloons, petals and drinks, ready to pop the question.

But when he got down on one knee, he smelt smoke.

He passed it off as fumes from a summer beach barbeque blowing through the open window.

Melanie said "Yes" but minutes into a glass of celebratory prosecco last Saturday afternoon the hotel's fire alarm blared.

The family including Melanie legged it downstairs.

Everyone left their belongings - including their phones and overnight clothes - and Brighton Albion has not contacted them about whether the items survived.

Jason and Melanie are both unemployed and worried about the prospect of replacing their valuables. Melanie also has a two-year-old daughter.

Despite reportedly calling the non-emergency fire services, Britannia Hotels, and the Royal Albion which is owned by Britannia, Jason has not found out what’s happened to their belongings.

He believes photos of the burnt-out building suggest their room is intact.

Describing the day, he said: “We were only staying there for that night. I planned the proposal for a couple of months. I’d stayed there once before and it was a really nice hotel, so I thought I’d take her there.

“I said to Mel that I was helping my mom that day so she didn’t know where I was.

“She thought we were going clubbing for the night.

“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.

“When she walked up I opened the door.

“I could smell smoke as I opened the door, our window was open so I thought it was probably a barbeque on the beach or something.

“She came in, her sister read her one of the love letters I wrote to her. I was stood behind her, I got down on one knee and I proposed to her.

“She said yes, and as I stood up to hug her I could still smell smoke, but it still didn’t process. Once I proposed we had one glass of prosecco.

“It took roughly about two or three minutes and then she went to get changed. As Mel went to get changed the fire alarm went off.

"Her mom pulled her out of the room, her two sisters and her sister’s partner went out of the room.

“I was still in the room at the time because I didn’t know Mel was out of the room, so I was trying to look for her.

“I went to grab a couple of bits but didn’t get a chance to because 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.’

“We all went downstairs. There was no fire warden or anything, we all just had to go out ourselves.

“We came out the side door, didn’t know what way or direction to go, so we walked down where the beach is.

“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.’

“We walked to the front of the Albion, by the time we had got there, there were staff members outside and one of the staff members was saying you can’t stand on this side you need to go to the other side.”

After over an hour of waiting, the family spoke to a police officer who reportedly told them to go to the Leonardo Hotel, over a mile away, where Royal Albion staff were said to be waiting.

On taking their details, the family was told Brighton City was fully booked but there was accommodation in Gatwick.

Priority was given to children and the family was told staff would get in contact if a room became free.

Jason said no one responded to them and instead he found a room in the Old Ship Hotel, just a few hundred metres from their original room.

He said: “I explained to them what happened, and that Mel has bad lungs, pneumonia, and needs to get out of the cold.”

The hotel took them in, gave them free drinks, a free breakfast in the morning, and coats to keep them warm after they explained their belongings had been destroyed.

However, the pursuit to find their belongings is taking its toll.

Jason added: “It’s stressful, not knowing what’s going on. It does hurt.”