Rules of Engagement
Getting engaged in Summer Bay doesn't mean that you will eventually get married. A surprisingly large number of couples have become engaged only to call it before they even made it to the aisle.
One of the first was Bobby Simpson and some guy called Geoff Lime. Bobby met Geoff through a dating agency and they had a brief romance, when Geoff suddenly proposed to Bobby. Bobby accepted, but within two episodes she realised that she had a mistake and Geoff was ditched and never seen again. Certainly inspiring stuff. Not sure I'd want to marry someone with the surname, Lime, either. Bobby Lime doesn't really have a ring to it. One of the next engagements that broke off was much better, the long lasting love triangle that existed between Lucinda Croft and her two lovers, Ryan Lee and Nick Parrish. Nick proposed to Lucinda, a proposal that was accepted, however Ryan never left Lucinda alone and in the end Lou decided she wanted neither of them and left Summer Bay. An unsatisfactory end to a great story.
In the mid-nineties it was Travis and Dr. Kelly that became Summer Bay's "not-quite-to-be'ers". After being together for more than a year, Travis proposed to Kelly in some sort of dodgy ceremony with Kelly's father there. Kelly was quite put-off by this, but eventually accepted Travis' proposal. However Stephanie falling off a cliff brought it all home to Kelly, she couldn't continue her career in Summer Bay and left a note for Travis announcing that she had called the wedding off.
2000 saw a veritable smorgasbord of weddings that were never to be. First off there was Gilly and Tom. Gilly was an English backpacker, wanting entry into Australia and Tom was prepared to marry her to let her gain entry. Unfortunately Tom fell for Gilly, whilst Gilly didn't share the same thoughts and the engagement was called off when Tom found her kissing some other guy, her British boyfriend Rory.
Next to get engaged, but not make it to wedding day, albeit with more tragic consequences were ex-alcoholics, Ken Smith and Irene Roberts. Unfortunately Ken decided to get Irene an expensive wedding ring rather than a new jack for his car garage. Yep, you've guessed it, the jack gave way and car squashed Ken. Sally quickly followed up her failed engagement to Kieran with a failed engagement to Luke, Kieran's best-man. Given that we barely saw Kieran, it could possibly be up there for Home and Away's worst engagement and in early-2001 they did away with the facade and Sally dumped Luke.
In 2001, Shauna fell for generally-nice guy Jude and they were engaged after a short relationship together. However, Shauna began to have second thoughts after she fell for new counsellor Flynn Saunders. Doubting the relationship she called the engagement off and after losing support in the community following her decision she soon left for a job in Melbourne. Not all doom and gloom however, as both still loved each other and they got back together in 2002.
Leah turned down Jesse's proposal of marriage in 2003, but the next engagement to be called off was Colleen and Norman Shadbolt. Norman unexpectedly called the engagement off following Noah and Hayley's wedding leaving Colleen distraught. Following Noah's death a few months later, Dani and Scott decided to get engaged. Unfortunately for the pair, Dani became engrossed in Viv's book and as she became more successful, in a move reminiscent of the Kelly situation a few years previous, moved to the city, putting her finance above her fiance.
Thanks to Ryan.