A Quirky Big City Wedding

About the couple

Bride: Anne Kobayashi

Groom: Jason Manett

How they met: “Jason was the new goalie of our hockey team, The Drunken Monkeys. I never had the opportunity to talk to him much before games, as he would always quietly get mentally prepared for the game in the corner of the change room. One day I sat beside him and started chatting with him. I was surprised that he wasn’t as quiet and shy as he came off. Around the same time, Jason started getting rides home from hockey from the same person as myself, so we were able to speak even more. I quickly realized that he was a very interesting and quirky guy, and we shared a similar sense of humour. One day our interactions extended beyond the locker room. I found a picture of the insides of a human body created using different vegetables in my email inbox. There was no message, just the subject line ‘Found a Picture of You.’ I found this quite funny since he obviously was making a joke linked to the fact that I’m a vegetarian. This started a rapid succession of emails and funny pictures being exchanged. Before long he emailed me and asked me if ‘he could take me out for some vegetables.’ He took me to an amazing vegetarian restaurant where we ate some delicious food, afterwards we watched hockey, drank beer and talked all night,” explains Anne.

Engagement story: “Our engagement story is not typical. However, knowing us, I couldn’t imagine a ‘normal’ planned engagement,” Anne confesses. “Ours involves spontaneity, Indian sweets and a curb. Ever since our second date, we both knew that we wanted similar things from our relationship. I was ready to only date people who were interested in moving towards similar lifestyles. I wanted to have a partner in life and although I didn’t imagine myself as having a traditional wedding, I wanted to be in a committed long-term relationship. One night in July, Jason and I went to a summer Indian festival on Gerrard Street in Toronto. We strolled along the food vendors, taking our time to sample samosas, chickpea curry, and Indian soda. The air was warm and the streets were filled with families and Indian music. We had just found some yummy Indian sweets that we decided to try. Since there weren’t any tables around, we decided to sit on the curb in a not too busy section of the street. We just people-watched as we sampled our treats. I can’t remember what started the conversation, but all of a sudden we landed on the topic of living together. I reiterated to Jason that I wasn’t going to do the “live with a boyfriend, break up and lose my house” thing again and I was only going to live with someone if I was engaged. Jason got very strangely silent for a few minutes. I could tell that he was thinking about something. I asked him to spit out whatever he was thinking about. I definitely did not expect for him to ask me to marry him, there on a curb at an Indian festival! Of course I said yes!”