It started with a handshake.
We met, of all places, on Hinge. Ana took the lead and started the conversation (obviously), and we found each other fascinating, intelligent, attractive.
Ana was 45 minutes late to the first date (obviously), and when she arrived, a very nervous Johann offered out a hand for a handshake. Thankfully, that got the ball rolling and the date went very smoothly from there.
Then things started falling nicely into place. A first date was followed by a first kiss (which apparently was one date too late, in Brasilian culture), followed by more dates - mostly to nice places around London - as we bonded over our love of great food, intriguing TV, and any dog we would see.
We were introduced to each other's friends and family. Johann knew there was something special here when Ana turned up to see him before an Iron Maiden concert, and then he kept thinking about her during the concert. Ana knew there was something special when she heard the Duolingo owl speak Portuguese - it turns out he had started learning without her knowing so that he could speak to Ana in her mother tongue.
Johann took Ana to Cambridge. Ana took Johann to Brazil. We spent Christmas together with Ana's family and then Johann's. Things were falling nicely into place, because it's just so easy for us to lean on each other and know what's best for the other person.
When Ana's lease came up, we moved in together and started making a happy, hearty, green home - replete with giant bed, giant sofa, and plants that Johann started naming after Ana's relatives.
Johann annoyed Ana by leaving laundry around, giving himself nicknames, and giggling in his sleep. Ana annoyed Johann by drinking all the water and never being on time for anything ever. But like the plants, it continued to grow into a lasting loving life. Johann adored how Ana could make him feel better about anything with a few words, how she opened his worldview to literally the other side of the world, and now she could literally fall asleep anywhere. Ana loved Johann's patience, the calm way how he balances her Latin energy, and how she doesn't need to ask for help for him to know she needs support. We loved our shared sense of humour but also our shared sense of the bigger picture of life.
What Ana didn't know was that, soon after we moved in, on one of her many trips to Brazil, Johann conspired with Ana's best friend to find a ring for her. He kept that ring quite poorly hidden in his bedside table, until a holiday to Greece together. Ana was still remarkably unaware that he would propose, until they stopped on a tiny isolated beach with a little church, St. Ioannis beach, to pose for photos, where Johann dropped to one knee. After all, where else to propose to a Carioca but on the beach?
Ana's overwhelmed disbelief in the moment led to her saying "no" numerous times instead of the usual "yes" when one is proposed to, but, as we always do, we soon cleared up the misunderstanding.
And then wedding planning started! Ana has taken the lead (obviously). Trying to plan across multiple continents has been, well, the work of a lifetime, to formally kickstart a lifetime together.
So we invite you to join us on our happiest of days, a day that sometimes we dreamed of, sometimes we never thought would come, but one that will set in stone forever our love for each other.
