What to know
- Couple 1 (Carter F. & Jamie K.): University classmates who connected on Instagram after a Halloween joke, went on a first date for drinks and a walk, and say honesty is the foundation of their month-old relationship.
- Couple 2 (Lauren G. & Matt S.): High school sweethearts from Buffalo who are now navigating an hour-long medium-distance relationship while attending different universities, with communication keeping them strong.
- Couple 3 (Murilo C. & Fernaada M.): Coworkers, where Fernaada was initially Murilo’s boss, who fell for each other outside the office and say love is built through everyday acts of care.
- Couple 4 (Tammy & Scott G.): Met at a volleyball tournament 16 years ago, later tied the knot in a Las Vegas ceremony officiated by an Elvis impersonator, and credit open communication for their lasting marriage.
In a city where finding love can feel harder than finding affordable rent, some Toronto residents are still beating the odds.
From meeting in school to sports activities or work, Toronto’s not as loveless as it may seem.
For this edition of This is Dating Now, Now Toronto asked couples how they met their partner.
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Some couples met in school
Carter F. and Jamie K. met while studying at the University of Toronto.
Carter explained they’re in the same program, so hitting her up was easier.
“I actually hit her up on Instagram. I think she had said something about being a werewolf for Halloween, ‘I said I think you could eat my grandma,’” he joked.
From there, he asked her what she had planned for the next week, and they went for drinks.
“It was really fun,” Jamie said. “I ended up being late, but it was kind of fun, because we turned it into, like, I don’t know, like a cute thing. And then we went, got drinks, and walked around for like two hours. Then he took me home. It was really nice.”
The couple shared their first kiss on that same day.
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Despite only being together for a month, the couple keeps choosing each other.
“I’m very comfortable with him; we get along, we have a lot in common. Our humours are very much on the same level. We enjoy doing the same thing, so every time we hang out, I have a good time,” Jamie told Now Toronto.
Carter added that he feels the same and is “very glad to meet somebody like that.”
Their hot take on making a relationship last: be brutally honest and open with each other. “Why waste your time?” Jamie said.
Lauren G. and Matt S. met even earlier: in high school.
The couple lived in Buffalo, New York, and had the jock-cheerleader trope.
“I was a cheerleader, he was a football player. We did a scavenger hunt thing, and that’s the first time I ever met [him,]” she told Now Toronto.
For their first date, Matt took Lauren to New York Beer Project for dinner and paid.
Now, the couple’s been together for three years, with Matt studying at SUNY Brockport University, and Lauren at Niagara University — making them a medium-distance couple.
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Their distance: one hour. “It’s not too bad. It’s about an hour away, and we live about 10 minutes away from each other at home, so that’s pretty nice. During summertime, wintertime, or any break, we’re pretty close to each other,” Matt said.
He said communication is key. “You need that. Without it, it’s not gonna work… If you don’t talk to each other, tell each other about your day, every day, then you’re gonna have problems. It’s not gonna work out.”
The pair knew they were “the one” for each other through the way they support and treat each other with love.
“He’s growing every day, and he treats me very well. It’s just like we’re very much similar, and we share a lot of things with each other, we love spending time with each other as well,” Lauren said.
Graduation doesn’t mean all hope is loss… There’s also the workplace
Murilo C. and Fernaada M. met at the workplace.
Fernaada was Murilo’s boss, but through friends in common and meeting often, the couple shared their first kiss at a club and later went on their first date at a restaurant in Yorkdale Mall.
Now, they’ve been together for two and a half years.
For them, it’s the small things that matter.
“The everyday, caring for each other in little actions and taking care of each other… just builds a stronger relationship,” Fernaada told Now Toronto.
Murilo added, “I think it’s the small things, just every day trying to help each other, making sure you got like she got my back, and I got her back too.”
Some meet in sports tournaments
Tammy and Scott G. met at a volleyball tournament, and 16 years later, they’re still together and married.
The couple hung out in a park for the first date, and enjoyed each other’s company and “hit it off” for having a lot in common, Tammy shared.
The spontaneous couple, both with previous marriages or children, decided to get married on Sept. 4. 2022 (or so they recall, both laughing, unsure of the year.)
“I know Sept. 4 in Vegas. I bought a cup for one of our anniversaries. It has a date on it so I’d never forget,” Scott said. “Due to my age, I thought it would be cool to get married by Elvis in Vegas… so that’s what we did.”
To make it all the way to marriage, the couple shared that the most important thing is open communication.
Got a dating story for us? We want to hear it! Send your experiences to news@nowtoronto.com for a chance to be featured in a future edition of This Is Dating Now.
