A story of love, destiny, and just a little bit of stubbornness

It all began in the glamorous world of Clarks shoe shop in Stirling’s Thistle Centre, where two young, slightly disillusioned students, fresh from their respective stores in Glasgow and Edinburgh, found themselves transferred to the same shop. Now, fate clearly had a plan, but at the time, all we knew was that we fancied the absolute life out of each other.

Abbie’s eyes would mentally undress me on a daily basis, and I – being the picture of professionalism – would spend my shifts very attentively watching her walk away. In fact, our flirting technique was simple yet effective: we’d walk in circles around the shop floor, completely ignoring customers and forgetting that we were actually meant to be selling shoes.

But my personal favourite part of the job? Stockroom trips. Not because of the work, obviously – but because those stairs were steep, and I was a man who appreciated good… architecture.

Now, we weren’t just workplace distractions; we also had social lives. One fateful night in Dusk, the finest establishment in all of Stirling (if your standards are low enough), Abbie and I bumped into each other. Sparks flew, drinks were consumed, and before we knew it, we were back at mine. But, despite what you might be thinking – absolutely nothing happened.

Why? Because Abbie, my soon to be wife, is what we call a massive tease. She never made her intentions clear, and I – being the absolute gentleman that I am – wasn’t about to put any pressure on things. So, instead, we awkwardly pretended not to fancy each other and went our separate ways.

And then… life happened. We both made some questionable choices (the kind you look back on and think, “Ah, yes, a learning experience”). But through all of it, we kept in touch. Every so often, we’d message each other – little reminders that we still had unfinished business. Abbie would flirt just enough to keep me interested and then vanish for a while – although to this day, she insists I ignored her for a year.

Fast forward to 2017. The questionable life choices were finally behind us. And wouldn’t you know it – Abbie started messaging me again, throwing out just enough hints to keep me on the hook.

But this time, I was done with the games. I thought, sod it, and just told her, “Why don’t you come to mine?” She did her usual routine – “Oh, I don’t knooow… maybeee… should I?” – but eventually, she jumped in a taxi and turned up at my place.

And there we were, in bed together, both clearly wanting something to happen, but still playing the world’s longest game of chicken. Until, finally, I thought, sod it (again) and kissed her.

And, well… that was it. Something just clicked.

From that moment, we both knew we had something special – something neither of us wanted to let go of. Well… actually, Abbie did. For a little bit.

But after a very mature and grown-up conversation – which, let’s be honest, she probably had never had with a boy before – we got back on track. And here we are, years later, planning our wedding day.

To Abbie and me – and a lifetime of never walking in circles again.

A&J

Wedding Day