I had just returned from the adventure of a lifetime in Europe and was ready to start my career at a recreation center in Collingwood, an hour and a half North of my family home in Newmarket. I was ready to meet new friends and create long lasting relationships but I never expected to end up finding my future husband at work, in the town of Collingwood of all places. When I saw Ethan I just knew he would be someone special in my life. He was caring, smart, and almost as stubborn as I am. I knew that would be a problem. I would love to say we got along right away but we definitely did not. I treated the situation as any Hallmark movie fan would; big-city girl moves to small town for work, local boy finds her tendencies annoying and tries to "teach her the ways of small town life," and they get married (you know the deal by now). This is not exactly how it went down, but it's pretty close. Even though we have had our ups and downs, he chose to be with me and I am grateful for that. As most of you know I can be stubborn and a lot of the time Ethan is right (that can stay between you and me though, right?) and that can be a lot to handle. But Ethan and I met at the perfect time in our lives so we could grow and learn together and I couldn't be happier. I would not want to walk through life with anyone else by my side and I can't wait to walk down the aisle to my best friend. -Nikita
Every girl has a dream proposal in mind and Nikita was no different. An avid connoisseur of The Bachelorette extended universe, I'm sure her ideal proposal involved a sun-soaked beach and a bottle of wine. The former was unattainable courtesy of a raging pandemic so the latter would have to suffice. What is a guy supposed to do when lockdowns have sucked all the romantic atmosphere from every potential place you had thought would be perfect? The answer is candles; lots and lots of candles. Did I expect it to be easy? The short answer is no. I had kept the ring she adored hidden away in the pocket of a jacket that I hadn't worn in months. She had picked it out and fell in love immediately. I think her endless insisting of "Hurry up and propose already" was more about the ring and less about me but I try not to take it too personally. It's okay though because I got to pick the wine - a Domaine Du Vieux Lazaret red - for you oenophiles out there. I probably cried more than she did but she remembers the moment more as a blur, the finer details obscured. For now just keep that between us, alright? She said yes, no surprises there, and I began to pour a glass of wine for each of us when I had an afterthought; we hadn't eaten dinner and there was nothing in the fridge! What followed was a furious Google search of local restaurants, most of which were closed by now. Pizza Nova would be our savior and I'll tell you from experience, as unlikely as it sounds, there's no better proposal dinner than a large pepperoni with French red. -Ethan