Cristina Farrugia, a 24-year-old teacher, wasn’t expecting an orchestrated marriage proposal when she walked into Valletta this morning – but that is just what she got.

As soon as she and her boyfriend Andrew Luke Vella, 25, approached, their friends, who waiting in the arcades, came out running to the middle of the road carrying placards spelling out “Cri... will you marry me? :+)”

Andrew immediately got down on one knee, took out an engagement ring and offered it to Cristina, who accepted.

Speaking to timesofmalta.com, a visibly elated Andrew said that even though they had already planned to marry – with the date set for next March, he had never officially proposed.

“Since I’d never properly proposed, I thought she deserved to have something special, so I decided to surprise her with this,” he said.

And from the looks of it, it seems he did.