The countdown is on! Less than three months to go until the big day! I can’t believe how fast the time has gone. Everyone keeps telling me I’ve been super chill over the last nine months of planning and I plan to maintain my cool right up to our wedding day.
My fiancé Randall and I often get asked how we met. And I love our love story so much so I thought I’d share it with you.
I’m the Senior Entertainment Reporter at CTV’s etalk and Randall is the Creative Director of MuchMusic. We work in the same building (Bell Media Headquarters at the corner of Queen and John St. in downtown Toronto) and for five whole years we were right under each other’s noses. Literally, our offices were just 62 steps apart from one another and, in all that time, we never met – never once spoke one word to each other.
Then, in early 2011, we both went to Africa on separate assignments. Randall to shoot a commercial for MuchMusic and me to do a story for etalk. We were there for five days and we haven’t looked back since. Randall likes to muse that “I was 62 steps away, but that he had to travel to the other side of the world to find me.” I love it when he says that.
It’s made for a good story. Especially the part when I told my mom that I had met someone in Africa. With equal parts shock and dread she responded “How are you going to make that work!?”
Soon after we started dating we both knew this was it for us. We bought our cottage in the spring of 2012 and have spent every minute we can up there. It’s been a place of great fun and celebration for our friends and family. There is literally nothing in the world that makes me happier than being up there with Randall.
Last July 19th, we had gone for a late afternoon swim that turned into us racing to see who could swim around the raft the fastest (we are highly competitive with each other, in the best way). It was just a super fun day, full of laughs and love and hugs and kisses. After our swim, Randall was hanging out on the deck just looking out at the lake. I came up, gave him a big hug and kiss and said “I really love you.” He said “I love you too babe.” I said “But I really super love you. I’m so happy.” The next thing I know, Randall is on his knee with a gorgeous ring in hand, and for the life of me I can’t remember a word he said. I was jumping up and down and crying and saying, “No baby no! No!” Not as in “no” I don’t want to marry you, but “no” as in I couldn’t believe it was happening. Randall had to remind me that I was supposed to say yes. I always told myself I’d never be the girl who turned into a babbling mess when I was being proposed to. Turns out, I was that girl…times a million!
We’re getting married this summer in the exact spot Randall proposed to me on July 30th of this year. I couldn’t imagine a more perfect location. We are planning a small and intimate wedding with just our immediate families and closest friends – approximately 28 guests in total. It’s exactly what I’ve always wanted, and as much as it’s a small wedding in numbers, it’s a BIG wedding in terms of all the bells and whistles. I’m having the best time planning our big day and I can’t wait to become husband and wife.
Danielle McGimsie is a senior reporter for Canada’s #1 entertainment show, etalk, which airs weeknights at 7 p.m. ET/PT on CTV. For more information visit, www.CTV.ca/etalk. Follow Danielle on Twitter, @MissDMcG.
