Roz Purcell thought fiancé Zach didn't like her when they first met - and lifts lid on wedding plans
by Michelle Townsend · RSVP LiveRoz Purcell said there was no immediate spark when she first met now fiancé Zach Desmond and she thought he didn't like her.
The couple have been dating for nearly ten years and got engaged last summer.
The influencer says she and Zach were "set up" through a mutual friend but their first meet-up was awkward.
Read more: Roz Purcell speaks out after Tommy Tiernan Show interview: 'I definitely wasn't prepared'
Roz said: "I think, a few years before we met, Zach had said to his friend, 'If Roz is ever single, set me up.' So then, it got to the stage where I was single and the friend set us up. It wasn't a date, we were both invited to the same place to meet each other, have a chat.
"I think I was like 'Oh my god, he doesn't like me,' and he was the same. I'm really awkward when I don't know people, or if I know that something might be happening. I was so awkward. And when I'm awkward, I'm really short."
Roz added Zach was also being stand-offish with her, but eventually text her to ask her on a date and from that point she knew he was the one.
"He always talks about how he wasn't going to [text]; he thought, 'She definitely doesn't like me, no way, she was not into me, she was very quiet.' And one of his friends was like, 'So what? Just text her and find out.' And he made Zach send a text," the 2FM host told Life magazine.
"We went for a drink. Dinner is too much; you’d be so conscious about eating, if there's anything in your teeth, there's a lot. And then the date was really good and I kind of knew."
Roz was delighted when Zach popped the question last summer and couldn't wait to tell her family.
She said: "I was really excited and really happy. I was most excited to tell my parents, they love Zach. My dad and Zach are on the phone every single day. They're best friends, Zach tells me what's happening in my family. So I was really excited to tell my dad.
"Obviously, Zach had asked my dad beforehand, but he was very smart, he did it about 30 seconds before he proposed, because my dad can't keep a secret. He would have told someone. He can't help it."
Roz and Zach haven't "planned a tap" for their wedding but they know they want to have a small celebration in Kerry.
"Just family and best-best friends," Roz explained. "Once you go over that line, we don't know where the end is - we have so many acquaintances, people we work with, who I love, but once you go beyond that inner circle, I don't know where it stops. The risk is you offend somebody."