Words From Our Couples
Love Stories
Natasha & Andrew Gravett
MARRIED OCTOBER 1, 2021
I was having lunch with a friend at Fanshawe College, when Andrew stopped by our table to say hi to my friend. As soon as he left, I felt a strong desire to learn more about him. About a month later, I made the decision to text him, and now, here we are!
Erica & Matt Leyden
MARRIED SEPTEMBER 25, 2021
Matt and I met on the first day of university, at a bonfire for our residence building. We both found the stories being told at the campfire hilarious and laughed out loud together. We grew as friends over the school year, with walks over campus, and a few math and physics tutoring sessions.
Bradie & Nick Haines
MARRIED SEPTEMBER 5, 2021
It was love at first sight! Nick and I met in a cafeteria at Fanshawe College, in 2013. We had been enrolled in the same program, and ended up sitting together in the cafeteria, after our professor didn’t show up for the first class. If our professor had showed up as planned, I don’t know that I would have had an excuse to sit next to the cute guy.
Samantha & Dylan Richardson
MARRIED SEPTEMBER 4, 2021
We met in 2008, at the beginning of grade nine. At the time, we shared mutual friends, but we didn’t have any classes together. When our friends introduced us, we instantly hit if off, quickly becoming high school sweethearts.
Jenna & Domenic Monardo
MARRIED AUGUST 21, 2021
During my time as a former professional hockey player, I had introduced my teammate, Kevin, to his Fiance. Roles reversed when I became single, and Kevin then recommended that I talk to this girl Jenna, who he had gone to high school with. The cool thing to do at the time was to slide into her DM’s, with a slick line of “Hey”.
Emily & Matt Leasa
MARRIED AUGUST 20, 2021
We are what you would call a modern love story. Five years ago we swiped right! On our first date, we quickly learned that we were a perfect match and officially started dating the following month.
Kalena & Kyle Flemington
MARRIED AUGUST 13, 2021
Kyle and I met at one of his Hockey Games, eleven years ago. At the time, he was playing for the London Knights and I attended one of his games with a friend. He had been suspended, so he was sitting on the sidelines, a few rows in front of me. We connected on good old Facebook shortly after, and the rest is history!
Tasha & Wes Hamilton
MARRIED OCTOBER 10, 2020
Wes proposed on a trip to South Carolina, during a round of golf. We were just finishing and going to take a picture on the final hole, when he got down on one knee. I thought he had tripped, and I told him to get up for the picture. It wasn’t until I realized that he was holding a ring, when I laughed hysterically in shock. I don’t remember anything he said, but, of course I said “Yes!”.
Kourtni & John Zalenko
MARRIED OCTOBER 5, 2019
We actually met on an online dating app (Tinder) in 2013. I thought John was good looking (obviously), and we ended up having a lot in common. Originally, I didn’t want to go – it was a blind date, and it would be the first time I had ever done anything like that. Thank goodness my best friend convinced me to go!
Lindsay & Matt Smith
MARRIED SEPTEMBER 21, 2019
Matt and I met briefly at a mutual friend’s party in university. We chatted and sipped whiskey, but no sparks flew right away. Fast forward six months to a night out at Jack’s (a bar in London, Ontario), when we spotted each other across the dance floor. It may not have been love at first sight originally, but it was love at first dance.
Jessica & Tim Dyck
MARRIED SEPTEMBER 14, 2019
Tim and I met in the summer of 2014, while we were students at the University of Waterloo. Many of our spring-term days were spent in the sunshine playing beach volleyball with friends, and Tim says that from the moment he saw me through the net he knew I was the one! I can’t say the same, but I certainly noticed him (tall, handsome, and good at volleyball!), and by the end of the summer, I worked up the courage to text him.
Jenn & Mike Tracy
MARRIED SEPTEMBER 14, 2019
When people ask me how I met my husband, I usually start with, “It’s a really romantic story…”, and then it quickly ends by telling them that we met and got engaged at a trailer park. Mike and I grew up together, spending each summer at a campground that both of our families camped at. High school summer love grew into more, and because we spent so much of our time at the park together, it was the perfect place for him to propose.
Taylor & Kevin Sorichetti
MARRIED SEPTEMBER 7, 2019
Kevin proposed to me while I was attending a yoga class in downtown Toronto, hosted by a well known yoga instructor. It was an important weekend for me, as the instructor was one of my biggest mentors. I had just gotten up to teach my portion of the class, and next thing I know, Kevin walked in! This was VERY WELL played by him, as not much gets past me. I had absolutely NO idea a proposal was coming and was completely shocked!
Katie & Ian McNeil
MARRIED JULY 13, 2019
Never in a million years did I think I would end up marrying a Tinder date… 4 years later and we tied the knot. Although the beginning of the date did not go as I planned and almost didn’t go, I am so beyond happy that I sucked it up and went anyway. The first date turned into the second and third and I lost count by the fourth as we were together as much as possible after that.
Amy & Blake Leontowicz
MARRIED JUNE 30, 2019
Blake and I met on Tinder, so we like to say that ours is a modern-day love story. But with or without Tinder, our paths were always meant to cross. On our first date, we realized that we only lived one street over from each other, and we couldn’t believe we never had met before! From then on, we were inseparable.
Julia & Jake Horsley
MARRIED MAY 24, 2019
Jake and I both grew up in Cambridge, knowing of each other through mutual friends. But our love story didn’t begin until I got my acceptance to the University of Guelph. I had reached out to Jake on Facebook with some questions about life at U of G, as he was already in his first year at the university. From then on, we started talking everyday, and he was such a great support for my big move to Guelph. Once I was settled into residence that first week, we met up and have been inseparable ever since!
Rose & Matt Murray
MARRIED MAY 11, 2019
From an instant connection, to pivoting the proposal plan four times, then planning an out-of-country wedding, Rose and Matt have relied on their instincts to guide them through their love story. Here they both share their perspective of the wedding journey, with a proposal breakdown by Matt that had us all laughing out loud!
Erica & Chris Hayes
MARRIED DECEMBER 31, 2018
Chris and I met in September of 2011, at the University of Guelph, where we were in the same department completing our graduate studies. It was the first day of orientation when we saw each other for the first time. Chris was sitting behind me and ‘accidentally’ flicked his pen at me – and would you believe, he still remembers what I was wearing that day! Luckily, our interactions continued, as we would see each other around campus and at various department events. Our friendship grew stronger in January of 2012, when we began running together.
Julia & Dan Van der Werf
MARRIED OCTOBER 20, 2018
Julia and I met at the University of Guelph, in graduate school, where we were both studying Psychology. The psychology grad students at Guelph had a strange affinity for hosting themed costume parties. Naturally, it did not take long for our paths to cross at several of these parties, with things culminating during a magical Halloween evening where I was dressed as a baby and her as a black swan (more like Natalie Portman, less like the water bird in Stratford).
Shauna & Tyler Rae
MARRIED OCTOBER 5, 2018
When you grow up in a small town like St. Marys, Ontario, you know of other people even if you don’t know them personally. That was Tyler and I. Even though we weren’t friends at the time, we were still connected at a young age through Tyler playing road hockey with my brother, and since his mom was my kindergarten teacher. In our final years of high school, Tyler and I had lockers in the same hallway at DCVI. For a while, he would just catch glances at me as I walked down the halls, but then one day his friend Louie messaged me on MSN to tell me that Tyler really liked me and suggested we hang out sometime.