NI couple’s engagement video goes viral on TikTok with almost 20 million views
n Armagh mum whose recent engagement video has gone viral with almost 20m views said she “wasn’t expecting” her partner to propose at all.
Annalivia Hynds (24) was on holiday in Spain with her partner, Ruairi McGivern (26), last month when he decided to pop the question, which was being recorded on her TikTok account.
At the time of writing, the clip has been viewed 17.8m times and has received 2.8m ‘likes’.
“I wasn’t expecting the ring at all,” Annalivia told the Belfast Telegraph.
“I was so happy, but so, so shocked. We’ve been together for six years and have two children, so it was coming — I just had no idea when.”
She added that the couple have received some “hate” under their short TikTok clip, but said “that’s what comes with social media and putting yourself out there”.
Annalivia now has more than 60,000 TikTok followers and almost 22,000 on her Instagram profile.
The beautician and former marketing assistant noted that she has “been working hard on TikTok”.
With her increased following and engagement, she has recently left her marketing job and is focusing on full-time paid content creation while pursuing her beauty career on the side.
“I think I got around 30,000 followers after that video, so it was massive,” she continued.
Warrenpoint native Ruairi got the engagement ring three days before getting down on one knee. He wanted to propose in the Spanish town of Cambrils while they were away on their family trip.
“However, he’s the type of boy that never carries a bag, so he couldn’t get the ring out of the apartment without me seeing a bag and probably questioning him,” Annalivia said, laughing.
“I was making TikToks anyway in the apartment garden and he asked if he could get in one — and that’s when he did it.”
The couple are parents to two daughters, two-year-old Robyn and seven-month-old Rhea, and want to wait three or four years until they get hitched, when their girls are a bit older.
“We’re stuck between an abroad wedding and a home wedding, so we’re not too sure,” Annalivia added.
The pair met in 2014 in the Belmont nightclub in Banbridge and although Annalivia said her friends had actually been dating Ruairi’s friends, they had yet to cross paths.
“That first night we met, he was trying to chat me up, saying he wanted to be my boyfriend, and I thought, ‘God, we’ve just met. I’m only 16.’ But we went on a few dates for about two years. Because I was from Armagh and he was in Warrenpoint, it was quite a bit of distance.
“Then when I went to university, our student accommodation was right beside each other in Belfast and that’s when we started properly going out with each other, in 2016.”
While both are delighted with the reaction and positive responses to their viral engagement video — one which they will always be able to treasure — Annalivia noted that she turned the camera off as soon as she saw the ring as she wanted to “be in the moment”.
