Kate: “In 2011 I had a list of ten things to do with my year which I’d never done before. Joining an online dating site was one of them so at the beginning of the year I signed up to eHarmony. We were matched on Valentine’s Day and I saw that as a sign that this was meant to be, even though Alex lived so far away in New Hampshire, USA. We started talking and our mutual love of radiator pants, Dr. Who and putting melted cheese on everything broke the ice and gave us something to talk about.

We couldn’t practically go on a first date right away so we had to be inventive. We would have video calls over Skype almost every day and would choose a different ‘date’ for each call. I’d take my laptop to a coffee shop and Alex would do the same in his hometown and we would sit and chat as though we were in the same room. One night we cooked the same meal and had a dinner date over Skype and even had film nights where would press play on the DVD player at the same time. Although we still hadn’t met in person this helped us to get to know each other and it made it less awkward when we did actually meet.

Alex came to visit me in May on his first trip to the UK. He landed at 10am and at six o’clock that night it was my Dad’s 50th birthday party at a pub in Leeds so Alex got thrown in at the deep end and met the whole family. We spent a wonderful week together enjoying the historic sights and local Yorkshire culture and in August I flew to America to meet Alex’s family.

Alex had it all planned out that on one of the days I was in America, we would drive up to the top of Mount Washington to watch the sunrise and have a picnic. On that day Hurricane Irene swept across the state and we couldn’t go. Alex was really wound up about it and had a big rant about how it was supposed to be the perfect day. He let slip that he was going to propose while we were there! I told him it was okay and that he’d have another chance later but the chance didn’t come. Later that day we were talking about getting married and kept coming up with make-believe scenarios where our families from both sides of the pond would be able to make it to our wedding. 

After much discussion we decided that it would be easier for us to just get married alone so that’s what we did. We were married at Gretna Green in January and we’ll be having a vow renewal in the UK for my family and in the US for Alex’s. Alex moves to the UK in September to complete his Masters. It’s not the most conventional way of doing things but definitely a good story! I never did complete my 2011 list but I think I ticked off the most important goals.”