Wedding bells were ringing for two members of the metal band Monastery during Coventry’s Godiva Festival. As the band took the stage to perform at the festival over the weekend, Monastery guitarist Josh Sellis dropped to one knee and proposed to Liv Gardner, his bandmate and girlfriend of nearly four years.
The special moment took place on Friday, Sept. 2 in front of a crowd totaling 4,000 people. In a video capturing the moment that was later shared to the band’s Instagram account, Sellis could be seen dropping to one knee and popping the question to a very surprised Gardner, who at first seemed just as surprised by the moment as the crowd. The band quipped in the caption of the video, “Soooo safe to say Godiva went well.”
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According to Sellis, the very public on-stage proposal wasn’t the original plan. While speaking to CoventryLive, he revealed that he initially planned to propose at a concert later in the month, as the band was one they saw together on one of their first dates. However, he decided to change those plans after their band Monastery, which was formed just before COVID-19-related lockdowns, were picked to play on the main stage of Godiva Calling. Sellis said, “I thought well we are not really going to get another opportunity to do something so big and so public so I thought why not!”
“Nobody saw it coming. It was complete shock from everybody on the stage and everybody in the crowd,” Sellis continued. “I sort of got up and went to carry on playing and nobody else could. I did not tell anybody anything, I thought it would just be funny to see how everyone would react. She was so shocked, there was just nothing, no response.”
As for the wedding? Sellis said they aren’t in a rush quite yet to walk down the aisle, and while wedding plans are in the works, “I have got a little bit of time to plan it all out.” One thing is certain, though, “we have both agreed as long as there is a bouncy castle there we are happy.”
Along with excited cheers from the crowd as the special moment took place, news of Sellis and Gardner’s engagement was met with a rush of congratulatory messages from fans. Commenting on the Instagram video, one person wrote, “That’s incredible well done and congratulations !!” Somebody else added, “great set guys and congratulations!”
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