❤ John and Kate ❤

How did we meet, you ask?

Well, we were at a coffee shop, saw each other from across the room and locked eyes; we both just knew one day we'd be together.

...... is how some other couple met.

John and Kate met sometime in highschool. We don't actually remember how, we just knew each other from around. Kate knew John as "big John" who she'd see every so often at highschool parties, hangouts or when he'd buy something from NoFrills where she worked. John knew Kate as Katie, a friend who he always had fun seeing at random parties and enjoyed having drinks with. We've known each other now for 15 years (approximately, no one knows for sure).

We stayed friends for a long time.. John would come to Kate's parties, and we'd meet at Neighbourhood Pizza Co. for a beer now and then. Eventually, John started dating someone who really didn't like Kate, and we could no longer hangout. Every once in a while we'd meet up anyway for a drink on John's lunch breaks (non-alcoholic for John of course!) because we really were just friends.

John's long-term relationship ended in October 2018. Coincidentally, Kate was also going through a break up at the same time. We decided to meet for dinner at Neighbourhood Pizza Co. one day, and the rest is history!

Hmm.. that would be too short of a story, so we'll continue!

We started to talk almost every day and became each others support through our break ups. When one had a bad day the other was able to be there to tell them it'll be alright, and vice versa. It was a very difficult time for both of us.

We both started to have feelings for each other, but neither of us wanted to admit it. We thought we'd be better off as 'just friends' and didn't want to ruin the closeness we had built. Silly us, we even continued to insist on being 'just friends' after going on what we called our first date at the Burlington Festival of Lights, during Christmas time.

Following our date we tried hard to stay 'just friends' but our feelings continued to get stronger and stronger, and we either had to start dating or stop being friends and go our separate ways. Its funny how feelings sneak up on you like that 😉 One cold night John was out with a couple of friends and couldn't figure out what to do. He was newly single from a long-term relationship.. was it too soon? What if we dated for a few months, broke up and ruined our friendship? He eventually decided to throw caution to the wind. On February 9th 2019, at 9:30pm, John went over to Kate's house and asked her to be his girlfriend, to see where it took us. Kate said yes, and the rest is history!

Okay okay, that's still too short, let's continue!

Our relationship was so much better than our 'just friends'ship! We both enjoyed each others company so much that Kate would go to John's just to sleep, while John played video games until 4:00am in preparation to work nights the following day. We calmed each other in a way neither of us have felt before, and still do.

Kate fell in love first, and I don't think anyone is surprised to hear that. John wasn't too far behind, though.

After almost 4 happy, fun, loving years of dating, John asked Kate to marry him at the site of their first date, the Burlington Festival of Lights, on December 16th, 2023. Kate's answer was "Of course I will!"

And the rest is history!

Wait wait wait, that's not the end either!

We now get to plan to be wed in the presence of all of the people who've made us who we are. Thank you for being here with us, watching our love grow, and walking with us into this new, amazing chapter of our story.

We're not even close to the end ❤