Molly Molloy Gamble and Kyle Katlett

The day after the Rose of Tralee there are always plenty of comments. Did you see this girl’s act? What about that Rose’s dress? How do you think Dáithí did? However, in 2013, the only thing that anybody talked about was the one and only proposal – the very first in the festival’s 54-year history. New Orleans Rose Molly Molloy Gamble made headlines, not just because of the proposal, but because for the first few seconds after her boyfriend Kyle Katlett went down on one knee, all she could say was: “No, no, no.”

“I wasn’t saying no to the proposal,” laughs Molly, who less than a year later is happily married to Kyle.

“It was purely the shock of it all. I’m so used to planning everything, and next thing there I was on stage getting the biggest shock of my life. That’s just my natural reaction and none of my family were surprised by it.”

Even Kyle wasn’t that surprised. “I knew she would say yes,” he says confidently.

Although he had a few jitters before going on stage, someone told him a joke just as he walked out and all the nerves disappeared. Kyle knew long before the proposal that Molly Molloy was for keeps.

“We met at college at the University of Alabama. Just a few weeks later, I injured my foot on a mechanical bull and Molly Molloy brought me to the hospital. So, before we travelled to Ireland for the festival, I asked her father for permission and he said yes. I decided to reach out to the Rose of Tralee committee about the best way to propose while we were away and they asked would I consider doing it on stage? I knew it would be memorable and we had fantastic celebrations afterwards in Tralee.”

Although Molly Molloy couldn’t have planned the proposal, she went straight into planning mode when she got home.

“We had the date and the church booked within a week of getting home,” she laughs.

The couple married on 24 May in a ceremony that Molly Molloy can only describe as “perfect”.

“The wedding day was better than we ever dreamed but Tralee will always have a special place in our hearts with the surprise proposal.”

Sinead Boyle and Nigel Motyer

Some romances from the festival have really stood the test of time. Sinead Boyle Motyer, who was crowned the Rose of Tralee 25 years ago, still goes back every year with her husband, Nigel, who was her escort back in 1989. This year, however, Sinead returns with the honourable but challenging task of being a judge.

“Back in the day, things were different,” laughs Sinead. “Then you could actually choose your own escort. I had met Nigel a few months before I became the Dublin Rose when we worked together in AIB. So when it came to selecting an escort, I asked him if he was up for the job.

“Really, Nigel did great. He was such a gentleman and treated me like a princess. Then when I was crowned the Rose of Tralee, he came to all kinds of dinners and events. Whether he was sitting next to the lord mayor or the chamber of commerce, he was a great date.”

When Sinead got the opportunity to travel to Australia and America, the couple had challenges with long-distance but after the year was up, she was determined to see all these places again with Nigel.

“It was quite rare to travel around the world back then but being a Rose gave me the confidence to embark on all those adventures.”

That was one of the few years that Sinead missed the festival. The other two times were when she was pregnant, first with her daughter, Hannah (13), and two years later when she was expecting her son, Ben (11).

Hannah is delighted to be heading down to the festival again this year and, you never know, she might be following in her mother’s footsteps in a few years.

Susan Roe and Adam Craughan

The Dublin Roses seem to be pretty successful in the romance stakes down in Tralee. In 2010, when Susan Craughan was handing over the title to the in-coming rose at a ball in Citywest, she met Limerick escort Adam Craughan.

“It sounds corny but our eyes really did meet across a crowded room. I thought he was really attractive, and then later in the evening, there he was sitting beside me.”

Similar to many modern romances, Adam added Susan as a friend on Facebook the next day.

“We were sending messages back and forth for a few weeks, and things were going really well. However, it was when we met again down in Tralee for the festival that things really kicked off. We had a great week and, really, we’ve been together ever since.”

Adam and Susan did the long-distance thing for quite a while, travelling between Dublin and Limerick every weekend.

However, this couple weren’t partial to all that time apart and at a romantic Christmas market on a trip to Bruges, just a year and a half later, Adam popped the question.

“We had two full tables of Roses and escorts at our wedding in Cabra Castle – you really do find friends as well as husbands for life during the festival.”