ROMANTIC Marcus Toussaint expressed his love for his girlfriend in an unusual way – by proposing to her on a big screen of an Ipswich cinema.Mr Toussaint had taken his Canadian girlfriend Krista Guenther to the UGC cinema in Cardinal Park, Ipswich to watch a film for her 24th birthday.

ROMANTIC Marcus Toussaint expressed his love for his girlfriend in an unusual way – by proposing to her on a big screen of an Ipswich cinema.

Mr Toussaint had taken his Canadian girlfriend Krista Guenther to the UGC cinema in Cardinal Park, Ipswich to watch a film for her 24th birthday.

However, what she did not know was that he had arranged for a wedding proposal to be flashed onto the screen.

In a scene that could have been written from a Hollywood film, the lights dimmed in screen six as the cinema audience settled down to watch a showing of Pirates of the Caribbean.

Before the film could start, Mr Toussaint's message appeared on the screen.

A maple leaf was pictured along with the words: "Happy birthday Krista Guenther. Will you marry me? Love always. Marcus."

The audience went silent as Mr Toussaint produced an engagement ring and the couple kissed and hugged as the proposal was accepted.

They were then presented with a bottle of champagne from staff at the cinema and received a round of applause.

The pair had earlier arrived in a limousine and had been given complimentary tickets from cinema staff who helped arrange the proposal.

Andy Reed, marketing manager at UGC, said this was the first time a marriage proposal had taken place on the big screen of the cinema.

He said: "Marcus phoned us up out of the blue and asked us if he could do it as he wanted to do something special for his girlfriend. I phoned up my advertising agency and the rest is history."

Mr Reed spoke to London-based company Pearl and Dean who are responsible for all the commercial adverts that are shown before the start of any film

The adverts normally cost about £300 but, as it was a special occasion, they agreed to do it for free.

A delighted Mr Toussaint said: "I had been planning it for six weeks and I was so nervous and worried about it."

He had informed Miss Guenther's family but had found it difficult to keep it a secret. He tried to convince his girlfriend that he had got the cinema tickets through a work colleague.

Mr Toussaint said: "Krista's mum sent me an e-mail saying that if she could stop crying she would give all her blessings. I just thought it was different and I wanted to surprise Krista and it is hard to do that."

The couple met two years ago when they were both travelling in New Zealand and now live together in Burch's Close in Knodishall.

They plan to get married in July next year.

A shocked Miss Guenther said: "When it came on the screen it took me a second to register that it was me. I kept thinking why is his boss giving me free cinema tickets?"

Mr Reed thinks this could start a trend at the cinema.

He joked: "We could start our own marriage agency and this might give the same idea to other people."