We’re getting married!!

Our Love Story We met the way many people do these days — through a dating app. Mikaela came across Gilbert’s Hinge profile in 2024 while vacationing in Florida with her family. At first glance, she thought he looked familiar, but couldn’t quite place why. Scrolling through his photos, she noticed he was wearing a University of Guelph varsity jacket and thought, “That must be it — we were both at Guelph, we must have crossed paths.” So she took the initiative and sent a message. His reply? A simple but memorable: “Howdy.” We chatted nonstop for about a week while Mikaela was still away, quickly realizing just how easily conversation flowed. Luckily, we discovered we had a mutual friend — which allowed Mikaela to confirm that Gilbert was, in fact, not a murderer — and she agreed to meet him at a gas station halfway between our homes. On April 3, 2025, a Wednesday evening after Gilbert finished work, he picked Mikaela up at what we now affectionately call “our gas station” and took her out for coffee. We ended up at his family farm, where we sat and talked for hours. After that night, Mikaela remembers thinking, “He’s the one,” and telling her closest friends about how handsome he was, how easily conversation flowed, and how kindly and respectfully he treated her. Gilbert remembers thinking he was "in it for the long run", and mentioned her contagious laugh, great smile, and blue eyes. During that first meeting, we also realized just how many times our paths had already crossed. Gilbert played hockey at Guelph during the same years Mikaela played rugby. Our varsity teams had back-to-back lift times, Gilbert refereed Mikaela’s intramural hockey games, Mikaela attended the Frosty Mug hockey game where Gilbert was the backup goalie, and we even attended the same athletic banquets two years in a row. So many missed opportunities — but we like to think we were placed in each other’s lives at exactly the right time. A year and a half after that very first date, Gilbert asked Mikaela to be his wife in the same spot it all began — back at his family farm. We cannot wait to continue our lives together as husband and wife.