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Gardening pro Diarmuid Gavin and his wife, Justine, a psychologist, met many moons ago but just how did these two cross paths? They've stood by each other's side through it all, and their love story has blossomed (excuse the pun), with them welcoming daughter Eppie in 2004. With Diarmuid and Justine set to appear on Living With Lucy on Sunday, take a walk down memory lane with us as we stroll down their meet-cute story... How they met It was the 90s, a time when Boyzone and Westlife were the biggest stars, everyone wore chokers, and Diarmuid was brought on to start working on the project that would change his life forever...a garden for legendary journalist Terry Keane, who just so happens to be his wife's mother! Once he began working on the garden for Terry, a budding friendship began between Diarmuid and the Keane family, in particular with Justine's grandmother, Anne, who was better known as Yayee. Diarmuid and Justine were getting to know each other, but things were moving quite slowly between them. Yayee put her matchmaking skills to the test as she organised for Diarmuid and Justine to have dinner at the house. With plates of fishfingers and a warmly lit dining room, Yayee excused herself, and well, the rest is history! 'She'd been matchmaking. After about seven minutes, Justine made a polite excuse and left. I remember the front door banging loudly. A month later, at one of Terry's parties in the drawing room, we found ourselves laughing about it. After that, we would laugh together a lot,' Diarmuid said in his book. Asking the big question In his autobiography, Diarmuid goes into detail about the day he proposed. The couple had been going steady for a while, and he knew he wanted to ask Justine to marry him, but felt he could never find the right time. Then, one day in 1994, when Diarmuid and the Keane family were celebrating Terry's book, Consuming Passion, Diarmuid plucked up the courage to get down on one knee. Only there was one issue: he had no ring! Turning around to Justine's sister Madeleine, he borrowed her ring and proposed to Justine right on the spot. As the couple celebrated, Justine's sister Jane constructed a ring out of champagne cork wires. Saying 'I do' Justine and Diarmuid set the date for their wedding in mid-summer and tied the knot in Tahilla, County Kerry. Diarmuid described the setting as 'not overly ornate, but perfect for us'. As they settled into married life, Diarmuid's pro-gardening career took off, winning bronze in the Chelsea Flower Show in 1995, and silver in 2004 and 2007. It was around this time as well that the gardening expert dipped his fingers into the presenting world, hosting Presenting Gardens and joining Dermot Bannon on Room to Improve. Adding Eppie to the family In December 2004, Justine and Diarmuid embarked on their biggest journey yet, welcoming baby Eppie. He later recalled the sweet meaning behind their daughter's name. Through Terry, Diarmuid not only found love but was immersed in a whole new cultural world, with Terry giving Justine and Diarmuid a copy of George Eliot's novel Silas Marner. Terry and Diarmuid took inspiration from the book and named their little girl after one of the characters. Sweetly, Eppie comes from the name Hephzibah, which means 'all my delight is thee'.
