Jessica & Andrew

SO the reason this is the pic that goes with my first date story, is because this was one of the photos on Andrew's online dating profile! Look at that gorgeous little family (minus James of course - sorry James!). How could I not fall in love with all of them? So we chatted for a couple of weeks and then met for the first time in person on July 16, 2016. We both pretty much knew straight away that this was, could be, hopefully-for-sure was .... 'IT'. And I'm still pinching myself that I was lucky enough to meet the man of my dreams on a site that is full of all sorts of, shall we say, possibilities... yikes!

And it followed that on the night of that first date I went home to my flatmate and cousin, Annie, and told her that I think I might very soon have a 'boyfriend'. Within a week Andrew was invited to afternoon tea with my parents to be 'vetted'! Ha! Needless to say he was a hit, and we've never looked back.

Then within a few more weeks I was introduced to Andrew's two beautiful girls and the gorgeous James, as well as his parents, and the family bonds we've been able to build are just sent straight from heaven. 

 

This photo was taken on the night we got engaged last year, Sunday December 2nd. After a romantic dinner with Verve and a diamond ring with dessert, we said YES! And it all happened at Bert's! Seemed like fate that we should get married there too :)

THE EYEBROW STORY will never not make me giggle!!! VERY early on in our dating journey, I went up to Andrew's place for dinner and he came out to greet me with .... no eyebrows!!!! Apparently he'd gone to trim them (those Lawrence eyebrows are legendary, thanks to Andrew's Dad, Jimbo) and one of the tynes on the trimmer was broken so instead of a trim they got a good old shave right OFF! Emma and I could not stop laughing, poor Andrew. He insisted they'd grow back soon and luckily they did. 

This is a picture of a print that my sister, Lucy, gave Andrew and I for our engagement present. It's a custom Night Sky Star Map of how the stars and planets were aligned on the exact day we met, 16.07.16. It so beautifully signifies the destiny of love and the whole meant-to-be, written-in-the-stars story that we hold so dear.

Speaking of which, one of my favourite stories that embodies this notion is one about Lucy and Andrew's daughter, Izzy, who happened to meet each other on the other side of the world (in California) after Andrew and I had been dating only a couple of months. To cut a long story short, Izzy went to study in San Diego and Lucy was already living there - literally a 15min drive from where Izzy was staying - so they met up and had an amazing and instant connection with each other. It was to the point where they said to us, "whatever happens with you two, we are going to be friends forever." Well, we thank our lucky stars they didn't have to worry about that. Now they will be family. XXX