About the couple

Bride: Vanessa Catarina Northover

Groom: Mark Alexander Anthony Northover

How they met: “We both went to Mount Royal College. We had eyed each other at the library but neither one of us could work up enough courage to approach the other. By chance we were introduced by a mutual friend and at the end of the night our mutual friend bluntly asked Mark in front of me if he had asked for my number. Which in fact he hadn’t. It surely was his easiest pick up ever,” says Vanessa.

Engagement story: “Mark proposed to me while on a summer vacation at my parent’s summer home in Portugal in the northern town of Arcos De Valdevez, where both my parents grew up,” explains Vanessa. “He had no elaborate plan or complex setup. He proposed spontaneously and on a whim. It’s not that I was suspicious but I knew something wasn’t quite right. He had small, noticeable shakes which I thought were out of place. He decided to take me for a walk by the picturesque river that ran through the town, and at the foot of a century-old bridge he knelt down and asked me to be his wife. One of the great things about Mark is how thoughtful he is, and we were able to share this moment in our lives with my family who I knew were not able to come to our wedding. I will never forget the tears my grandmother shed when she found out I was finally engaged to the man of my dreams.”