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Grace Fanning down on one knee proposing to Carol Brady at Fota Wildlife Park on Saturday last.

The romantic proposal of a couple living in Kilworth has gone viral - since Grace Fanning proposed to her girlfriend Carol Brady on Saturday, the picture from the Fota Wildlife Park Facebook page has been Liked more than 10,500 times, received almost 300 comments and been shared more than 100 times.

Grace is originally from Carlow, while Carol hails from Wexford and the couple, who have been together seven years have been living in Kilworth for the past four years.

Grace told The Avondhu that herself and Carol had spoken about getting married and Grace knew that she was the one who wanted to pop the question, which Carol was happy with, but Saturday's proposal came as a wonderful surprise.

She wanted it to be memorable and not much beats a behind the scenes tour of Fota Wildlife Park and getting down on one knee with a captive audience of giraffes.

The couple were supposed to do the Dublin marathon together and Grace had planned on waiting for Carol and proposing at the finish line, but she couldn't do the marathon due to work commitments as a naval officer on the LE Aoife.

She had then thought that she might pop the question at the top of Carrantuohill, but once she found out about the behind the scenes tours at Fota - she knew that it would be the perfect place and Grace, with the help of the wildlife park staff, orchestrated it in such a way that the giraffes (Carol's favourite animal) would be in the background of the proposal picture.

When Stephen Ryan, Head of Marketing, shared the picture on the Fota Wildlife Park Facebook page on Sunday morning, he never expected it to get the reaction it did, and Grace said that herself and Carol are still in shock.

Stephen said that they had been liaising with Grace since October or so to arrange this tour as a Christmas present and they made sure that the giraffes would be out at the opportune moment, but for Leslie the tour guide, it was also a bit of a waiting game.

There have been other engagements at the park over the years, but Stephen revealed that this was their 'biggest post of all time'.

When asked whether or not Grace and Carol would be continuing their wedding story with Fota, Stephen said that they've never had a wedding in the park, but they do ceremonies at Fota House and in the resort and he would love if Grace and Carol came in to get their pictures at the park if their reception was nearby.

Grace said that the staff at Fota were really great and very supportive and even at work, which she described as being male dominant, there has been a lot of support for the engagement.

With the same sex marriage referendum due to take place later this year, there has been widespread support for same sex couples, which is perhaps why this story struck a chord with so many.

Grace said that they hope to get married next year and ideally at home, perhaps somewhere near Carlow where she is from.

Even though not even a week has passed since Carol accepted the proposal, the couple are already lined up to attend two wedding fairs at the end of the month and the details are already being planned.

Grace revealed that Carol wants a big wedding with the show-stopping dress and all the trimmings, while she's not sure if she'll wear a dress or her navy uniform.

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