This is, in many ways, a classic story of a modern day romance - with just a twist of showbiz to spice it up.
Two strangers, at opposite ends of the country, meet via Twitter and four years later confirm they're going to get married, in front of a 400-strong audience in Dunedin after a secret wedding proposal also arranged via the popular social media site.
So, we'll shamelessly paraphrase a Hollywood movie title from 1989 and call this screenplay ''When Becky met Dan'', a plot which had a perfect ending during a live comedy show on Tuesday night.
Becky Lieshout (21), we can happily report, said ''yes'' when partner Dan Faulknor (24), asked her ''will you marry me?'' at the start of the second half of Irish comedian Ed Byrne's show at the Glenroy Auditorium.
The show-stopping proposal was arranged by Dan, who contacted Byrne when he heard the Dublin-born funny man was doing a show in Dunedin, to see if he would co-operate with the ambitious plan he had hatched for popping the question to Becky.
Byrne not only agreed, he also worked with Dan to cleverly work the hush-hush proposal into the opening set after half-time, asking Becky why the seat beside her in the front row was empty and accusing the absent Dan of not laughing once during the first half.
Byrne then asked the audience to yell in unison ''where are you Dan?''; a side door on stage opened and out walked Dan, who took the microphone and, after coaxing Becky to join him, was soon on bended knee, offering her a ring.
And, to borrow yet another showbiz line, yes, the crowd went wild.
Yesterday Dan explained how he had met Becky on Twitter four years ago when he was living in Napier and she was in Invercargill.
They soon found they had many things in common and the friendship bloomed.
On their first date Becky revealed she was a big fan of Ed Byrne (Dan had never heard of him) and so together they watched a DVD of the Irish comedian in performance.As Dan told the crowd on Tuesday night, who would have thought four years later they'd be agreeing to get married at one of his shows?
He had kept his proposal plans quiet, contacting Byrne through a special Twitter account, although he suspected Becky had an inkling something was up.
Despite this he was ''pretty confident'' she would say ''yes'' when he asked her the big question -''otherwise I wouldn't have risked it in front of all those people'', he said, laughing.
Dan, who works in IT and Becky, who is a full-time student at Otago University, studying for a BA in sociology and education, recently bought their first house and are now planning their wedding for January 2017.
Asked if they'd thought of inviting their new friend Byrne - he spent some time with them after the show on Tuesday - the couple said he might ''steal the show'', although a friend had already suggested, on Twitter, that he'd make a great marriage celebrant.
''It would certainly be very entertaining,'' they joked.
