Our story starts almost exactly ten years ago. Lance was working as a security guard at Gatsby – the most popular bar in the city of London at the time. It was freezing cold outside, the line to get in was all the way out to the road. Around 1AM, in the freezing cold, up came to the front of a line a very shy, cute, 5’1 blonde girl. This girl was of course, Darby.

Despite her seeming a little intoxicated, Lance opted to take her ID and ask her a few questions on the ID to make sure it was in fact her, and she was able to regurgitate her personal information on the card. Things were going great, she knew her address without hesitation, knew how to spell her middle name, and even nailed the postal code. Unfortunately after further review, there was one glaring discrepancy – it said she was 5’7. Being the security guard he was, Lance had no wiggle room when it came to doing the right thing and denying her.

After denying Darby from entry, Lance thought there was no better time than the present to put his best moves on and see if he could secure her phone number – to which he succeeded. A few weeks later, Darby and Lance went on their first date. Unfortunately after a few months, Darby and Lance both decided to move on and test the waters – with no intention of rekindling in the future (sad face).

Fast forward to the early months of 2021. Lance was hanging out with two good friends of his (Harris and Daniel) and Daniel’s nice apartment in Brampton. Despite having a blast, Lance felt something was missing. Lance opened up his phone, scrolled down to the “D”’s in his contact list, and clicked on the contact, “Darby Martin”. After a few short seconds of internal debate (wondering if he should text her or not), a gust of confidence overtook Lance and he decided to call her out of the blue, despite not talking for the better half of ten years.

This is where it gets crazy. Anyone who knows Darby, knows that she does NOT pick up her phone unless she knows exactly who it is calling, and what they want to talk about. In this rare instance, Darby decided to pick up the phone on a “no caller ID” call – completely out of character. Darby was convinced it was work calling offering her an overtime shift for tomorrow, the only reason this call was answered. Obviously shocked when it wasn’t work calling.

At this point all of Lance’s confidence had disappeared and was too nervous to tell Darby who it was for nearly five minutes. After Lance finally told her who it was in the other end, they partook in a 45-minute phone call just catching up on the lost time. Things felt good, and those butterflies inside their stomachs from way back in 2013 found their wings again.

Lance and Darby arranged to meet up just as things started opening up again during the covid-19 pandemic – risking it all in hopes that things may go a little differently this time – and boy did they ever. Things were perfect right away, better than either could have imagined. Lance and Darby quickly went from seeing each other once a week, to all their spare time.

It didn’t take long for the couple to make some serious commitments, such as buying a house together, and adopting a foster dog. To this day, their love for each other continues to grow stronger and stronger – hence Lance’s decision to ask Darby to be his wife on April 27, 2024.

D&L

Wedding Day