Anthony Rachel
M A Y 3 0 , 2 0 1 5
#AKRV2015
Our Story
His Story
Inception: I guess it all started when I met Rachel’s sister (Vinna) at work… As our friendship blossomed over coffee breaks and lunches, so did her grand scheme to play matchmaker between Rachel and I. When she first brought up the idea, I casually brushed it off and laughed (but not before the idea was “planted”). She continued to talk up Rachel telling me how beautiful she is, how smart she is, and how much we have in common (“clubbing” and volleyball). I was intrigued… but still a little skeptical because of the age difference.
The Social Network: Before agreeing to proceed with this matchmaking business, I decided to do a little facebook creeping to see how beautiful she really was and to see what type of people she associated herself with… Let’s just say there was definitely no shortage of clubbing pics… and although the blond streaks, coloured contacts and tight outfits was not my usual type, I decided to not judge the book by its cover, and that I should probably meet her in person to see what her personality is like. I guess it was time to start working my “game”.
Just Go With It: Since I apparently like to go clubbing so much, I asked Rachel (via Vinna messaging her on my behalf of course) which clubbing spots were good to hit up on a Friday night. When Vinna received the response back from Rachel (“Guvernment, Embassy, etc.”) she would relay the message back to me. This back and forth happened a number of times, until one day, Vinna got fed up of being the messenger, and ambushed the two of us with a three way conference call. Although our chat was brief, I was still able to ask Rachel out on a date: “Ummm… maybe… if you aren’t too busy… we should… possibly… play volleyball sometime???”
Six Degrees of Separation: Lucky for me, it turned out that Rachel’s friend (AP) was seeing one of my friend’s (KL) friends at the time, which led to the planning of a double date at the beach. Since AP was working close to my office, I offered to drive her down to the beach. We made small talk about work, school, volleyball, and how it was such a small world that I knew the guy she was seeing, and that I work with Rachel’s sister, and then the topic of age came up…
AP: “How old are you again?”
AK: “23… turning 24 this year…”
AP: (Doing the math in her head) “4 years apart… that’s a little iffy…”
AK: (Awkward laugh) “What do you mean??? That’s not so bad…”
As we approached the volleyball court, the first thing I noticed about Rachel was… she was wearing quite a bit of makeup ;) I could tell that we were both a little nervous because there was such a high expectation around us meeting (Finally!). The rest of the evening was pretty chill, but it was too early to tell if we would be a good match or not.
Hitch: I drove Rachel home that night, and as I was pulling over in front of her place, the car rolled to an abrupt stop. I forgot to clutch down and stalled the car… Rachel noticed but she didn’t call me out too hard. Although I was interested in seeing her again, I decided to take it slow, be myself, and NOT to try and sweep her off her feet. Seeing how social and popular she was, I was almost certain that there would be other competition. We continued getting to know each other over text and phone chats, and for our first real date we went for dinner and a movie. As our connection grew stronger, I realized that she had everything that I wanted in a partner… she was beautiful, smart, funny, caring, and best of all, she was not afraid to debate a topic with me. At that moment (approximately 2 months after we first met), I wanted nothing more than for us to be in an exclusive relationship together.
6 years later, Rachel continues to make me a better person and keeps a smile on my face :) I’m super excited to be marrying the love of my life and I hope that you can all join us for our special day on Saturday, May 30th, 2015!
Her Story
The first mention: This story begins in the year 2008. First off, I need to thank my sister, Vinna, for her very persistent attempts to introduce me to her new co-worker, Anthony, who by her tellings, was a young, good-looking guy, with a decent sense of fashion and a shared interest in volleyball. Not to mention the fact that he had a lot of "female model friends", who might swoop him up in any second. Despite all of this, I was not interested in meeting Anthony because I was in another relationship at the time. Half a year later and after many random texts from Vinna saying "Anthony wants to know what club is good this Friday night", this phone call happened...
The first interaction: I happened to be volunteering at the hospital that morning when Vinna called me out of the blue.
V: "hey. what are you doing?"
R: "umm.. nothing, just volunteering.."
V: "... hold on"
*awkward silence*
A: "hello....?"
And that, folks, is how our first (awkward) conversation occured. I don't even remember how long this telephone conversation actually lasted, but I do remember saying something along the lines of.. "oh, you play volleyball? you'd probably murk me.." MURK? What was I thinking? This conversation led to Anthony stalk.. finding me on facebook and finding the courage to message me. After being "pen pals" for a while, we finally decided to meet...
The first encounter: I'd like to think that it was more than just a coincidence that a close friend of mine (AP) happened to be dating a friend of Anthony's at the time. We all loved to play volleyball, so it was a perfect excuse to meet! The ride down to the beach was probably one of Anthony's most memorable moments (it involved a pretty hefty speeding ticket), but mine was the moment I met Anthony. My first instinct was to think of Yao Ming, but I'm pretty sure I am not alone in that one. That day consisted of lots of beach volleyball, sunburns, laughter, a hello kitty tan on my chest and a ton of fun. I knew I wanted to see Anthony again, so we set up our first "official" date.
The first date: We decided to grab a quick bite at Casey's first and then watched 'Wall-E' at Yorkdale Mall. It's always so cold in movie theatres, and I never seem to learn my lesson. Anyway, I was freeeezing cold in there and instinctively wrapped my arms around myself in the attempt to conserve some of the little heat that I have. All of a sudden, I feel an arm slowly move itself around me and these warm hands over mine. I'm not sure if I expected him to make a move, but I was too cold to care - I was warm!
The first "I love you"s.. kind of: We decided to make it 'official' on August 13th, 2008. As most couples do, we spent each night talking to each other on the phone till we were ready to fall asleep. One particular night before hanging up, I said "I miss you". Any natural response to this would be, "I miss you, too". However, what came out of his mouth made me swallow hard. "I love you, too...". There was a moment of awkward silence as I concentrated hard to determine whether it was my faulty reception or his voice that made those words. In a haste to get off the call, I said "bye" and hung up. We still laugh about this miscommunication till this day.
It's definitely been a whirlwind of a journey, but 6 years later, Anthony sweetly proposed to me, making him my first AND LAST fiance and soon-to-be husband!
We are beyond excited for our wedding on Saturday, May 30th, 2015 and we want nothing more in this world than to have you share in this wonderful day with us!