Words From Our Couples
Love Stories
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Nadine & Chris Crozier
MARRIED SEPTEMBER 22, 2018
Chris and I met each other through mutual friends at University. At the time, his best friend was living with my best friend, but somehow we hadn’t crossed paths until one particular night when our friends threw a party. In the midst of talking and catching up with people, I somehow caught Chris’ eye from across the room. I must have had the same expression of interest on my face that he did, because for the first half of the night, we both tried to get close enough to each other to start a conversation.
Megan & Adam Fontaine
MARRIED SEPTEMBER 15, 2018
Adam and I aren’t your typical high school sweethearts, although that is where we met. At a young age, I remember knowing that Adam was my person. We started out as friends, but by grade 10, he became the only man on my mind – and from that point on, I was pretty much on a mission. It took a few years, but right before I was about to make my big to move to Toronto for college, we made it official.
Emily & Kevin Alferink
MARRIED SEPTEMBER 8, 2018
Kevin and I met at a church event when I was only 14 years old and he was 16. At the time, I was living in Windsor and Kevin was based in London, so we only got to see each other every other week when I was home to visit my Mom. We talked for a few weeks (the first time either of us had ever been in any sort of relationship!), but the distance between our hometowns was too much for our age, so we decided to break things off.
Hayley & Patrick Johnston
MARRIED AUGUST 3, 2018
Patrick and I were never supposed to meet. We were from different cities, went to different universities, traveled in totally different circles, and up until the day we met, never knew we had any friends in common. Everything changed on Friday, October 3rd, 2014 when we were both guests at a wedding.
Kelly & Patrick Darby
MARRIED JULY 21, 2018
Our wedding story began back in 2013 when we were set up by my sister and brother-in-law. Patrick had been a friend of theirs since high school, but since he was a few years older than me, we had never had a chance to meet. It wasn’t until we had both graduated from university seven years later, that my sister and brother-in-law suggested to both Patrick and I, separately, that they knew we would be the perfect match. Phone numbers were exchanged, and eventually Patrick and I went out.
Julie & Brian Garel
MARRIED JUNE 30, 2018
Brian and I met almost 10 years ago on the first day of orientation, at the University of Waterloo. We were in the same orientation group, and aside from a few name games with the rest of the group, we didn’t officially meet until later in the day during a campus tour. Brian had broken his flip-flop during a really intense cheer-off earlier in the day, and was stuck at the back of the tour with one shoe. I felt bad (and also thought he was cute), so I walked slowly with him at the back of the group, and we chatted for the rest of the tour (not paying any attention to the actual tour!). Later that day (after getting lost on campus) I was talking to my friends about the cute boy I had met, and told them that I was pretty sure I had found my future husband!
Kristen & Jacob Nuhn
MARRIED AUGUST 19, 2017
When you have a twin, there are so many perks that the two of you share. Perks like having a built-in best friend, reading each other’s minds, finishing each other’s sentences, and understanding what the other person would want in a romantic partner. That last perk is particularly important for this story. About five years ago, my twin sister, Jessica, set me up on a blind date with Jacob, a friend of her boyfriend’s, who she said would be perfect for me. Jacob and I went on a double date with my sister and her boyfriend, and when it came to an end, Jacob and I continued to hang out and talk until three in the morning! With chemistry like that, you’d think that the rest was smooth sailing.
Jasmine & Sean Smith
MARRIED MAY 13, 2017
Before all the dating apps of the world, there was a time when people met by chance, in places like coffee shops and bars. So, I guess you can say that our love story began the old-fashioned way. I was out with some girlfriends, celebrating my birthday at the Thorny Devil (a nightclub in London, Ontario), where Sean and his friends also happened to be that night. One of my friends started chatting with one of Sean’s friends, and then Sean and I struck up a conversation. Right away I thought he was cute, but it was the way he made me laugh that told me there was something really special about him. And I haven’t stopped laughing with him since.
Stephanie & Joel Strugnell
MARRIED OCTOBER 1, 2016
When you know, you know! That was the feeling Joel and I had after our very first date. Two small town kids, who attended high school in the same town, but who had never met - until our passion for fitness and health lead us to cross paths at the Stratford GoodLife. Only ever exchanging hellos at the gym, it wasn’t until mutual friends introduced us to each other at a local pub when we took the next step. We talked for what felt like hours, leaving our friends to entertain themselves. As the conversation continued to flow, I was feeling confident and happy about our first real encounter, and assumed Joel felt the same. But when he left to catch his ride and didn’t so much as ask for my phone number, I was left with a surprising reality check.
Ashton & Matt Staffen
MARRIED SEPTEMBER 10, 2016
Our love story began as an office romance, back when we were both working for a large Canadian retailer. I was finishing up my university degree and only in the office part-time, when Matt first started in my department. I would admire his ‘goldie locks’ from afar, and we would smile at each other in passing, since I wasn’t in the office too often through the week. When I began working full-time hours a few months later, overlapping tasks would encourage our email exchanges, and Matt finally mustered up the courage to ask me out. At the time, I was freshly out of a long-term relationship, and not looking for love. However, when Matt insisted that, being new to the city, he was simply looking to make more friends in the area, I thought that a friendly outing wouldn’t hurt. Of course, in actuality, he intended to sweep me off my feet – and that’s exactly what he did! It only took one conversation to convince both of us that there was something incredibly special about each other; and we’ve been inseparable ever since!
Barbara & Leonard Adams
MARRIED JULY 16, 2016
Len and I met at a lounge in downtown Toronto, one night in April 2013. We joke that our eyes met across the crowd, but really it was above the crowd, seeing as we’re both so tall! As we were leaving the lounge that night, he asked me for my number, and promptly sent me a text that said “nice to finally meet you”. Even though I wondered if Len was just really good at pickup lines, when he asked me to go out with him the next day, I agreed. And as it turns out, we really hit it off. We found out that we lived in the same area of the City, which made it so easy for us to begin to spend a lot of time together. It was quite the whirlwind romance, and a lot of the fun getting to know each other while also enjoying our city.
Danielle & Dan Bialas
MARRIED JUNE 11, 2016
They say ‘distance makes the heart grow fonder’ and this is how I would describe how our love story began. Dan and I originally met in high school, but it wasn’t until after we returned home from college when we really connected. In 2010, we started unofficially ‘dating’ for a few months, and then I took off to live in Australia for a year. We kept in touch throughout the early months of my trip, and sure enough, Dan ended up flying halfway across the world to visit me for a few weeks during the Christmas holidays. When I returned home from Australia later that year, we picked things up right where we left them.
Kira & Tristan Hughes
MARRIED MAY 21, 2016
Grade seven was when it all began. That’s when Tristan and I met for the first time. I quickly fell for his cute face, sporty style, and spiky hair. Tristan probably couldn’t have told you my name, but when my friend asked him out for me, he agreed to take me on a movie date. However, when date night came around, Tristan brought a friend on our date – so needless to say, there was no date number two (at least not for a while).