"My husband Ryan and I met in the Summer of 2019 on a very spirited Grand Prix weekend in Montréal, Québec, Canada. He had travelled from Winnipeg to MTL for work and was entertaining a client, who happened to also work with friends of mine who were in town that I had make prior plans with. I met up with them at a diner and we all spent the entire weekend together experiencing the sights and sounds of the city. Ryan and I had no business meeting. He’s from a small town in Northern Ontario and I’m from Kingston, Jamaica. My Jamaican friends just happened to be living in Winnipeg at the time and they became our forever connection. We met on the Friday where he said he “heard my laugh and it was over” and by the Sunday we were on our first “date”. He wanted to call it a date and I was more like “let’s hang out, I’ll show you around”. We spent the entire day together eating, drinking and walking our way through MTL, it just felt so right. He left the next day and we kept in touch, we never went a day without talking. We got to know each other through the phone and 2 weeks later he was back to see me. For the first 2 yrs we went back and worth between Winnipeg and MTL and at the beginning of Covid he drove 22 hrs across Canada to be with me, so that we could quarantine together. When Winnipeg opened back up, we drove back together and I spent a few months there until my Industry opened back up in MTL. Ryan had always been so sure of us, he never for one second made me feel like there was any doubt in his mind. He made it known from the get-go that he wanted me to be his and then proved his worth and value every single day. Skip forward to two days before my birthday, Jan 22, 2022, also his mom’s birthday, when he had organized for me to get my nails done, sent me on a shopping spree with my friend and had her bring me home blindfolded. He removed the blindfold and in our living room there was a beautiful floral arrangement draped around my accent chair, a tiered buttercream filled red velvet cake with glasses of champagne and a photographer to boot! It was a surprise birthday photoshoot! I was so excited! However, as the night progressed and we cut the cake, there was a message in the cake and as I pulled it out it read, “Want to make forever a little more official?” I looked down and there he was on his knee with my chosen, custom ring. I was in tears for a day and a half lol. In our bedroom, he had also prepared candles, more champagne and black and white print outs spread across our bed of different moments in our relationship. Little did I know, this was his 2nd planned proposal as the original one was supposed to be in December in Jamaica. He held on to the ring for 6 months and had all the elements booked but then, Omicron. We cancelled our trip and he was devastated but it wasn’t meant to be. I loved my home proposal so much, it was intimate, personal and so us. Our wedding was also an intimate one, just us, our moms, our 2 brothers and 2 friends. 8 in all! We wanted to get married on our Anniversary and didn’t want to be swayed by varying schedules. I had a terrifying experience that could have cost me my life and we didn’t want to wait, we knew what we wanted and went for it. It was on a Tuesday afternoon and it was perfect. We always said this one would be for us and we’d have a ceremony and party later on to celebrate with our loved ones. No one knew except a few and we got married on our upper terrace, decked out with stunning wedding arches complete with florals, a short runway, chairs and colourful cones filled with confetti. We took photos on the (flat) roof of our building which had iconic city landmarks in the BG and then went to Old Montreal (where we experienced together on our first date) for some addl photography. It was like the streets belonged to us. We ran around taking pics, dancing in the square in front of the Nôtre-Dame Basilica where a guitarist played and sang for us and on lookers cheered us on and shouted congratulations. I couldn’t have planned that any better myself :) We then met up with our party at the Hôtel Place D’armes and had lunch complete with celebratory champagne. Finally, we checked into the beautiful William Gray hotel in Old Montreal, for the night as a lil staycation. Coming from completely different backgrounds, races and religions, Ryan and I found each other and never let go. We knew something was special about the other from the first day we met and we committed shortly after. We never made distance hold us back from experiencing something real and after 3 years, we’re finally on the cusp of living in Montreal together. Last year, he moved from Winnipeg to Toronto to be closer to me and his family since we’re all on the east and made his company know that Montreal was the end goal. He’ll be moving here in the next few months for good and we couldn’t be more elated. All the travelling back and forth was worth it because we found true love, commitment and partnership and wouldn’t trade it for the world. XO