About the couple

Bride: Zana Mariano

Groom: Jason Thomas

How they met: “On April 20, 2007 a group of my co-workers decided to meet at a popular restaurant in Toronto for dinner. I don’t want to sound cliché, but I noticed Jason from across the crowded restaurant. I remember thinking, if I walked over to the washroom that maybe he would approach me along the way, but he didn’t and I didn’t see him for the rest of the evening,” Zana recalls. “As I was leaving the restaurant, Jason was standing outside having a smoke. When I walked past him he said ‘I like your red coat,’ which grabbed my attention and we started talking. I indicated that I was in a rush to work on a presentation for a conference the following morning so if he wanted to talk then he had to accompany me to Union Station. To my surprise, he joined me and, as we departed, he told me that I had made his night.”

Engagement story: “Jason took me out for lunch and from what he told me later decided it was not the right place to propose. So, he drove me back to his house. I noticed he was wearing the same top he wore the day we met, but never thought of an impending proposal,” says Zana. “Even the songs playing on the radio as we approached his house were two of our favorite songs and one would end up being our wedding song. When we entered his house we went up to his room and he pointed at a funny gift on his dresser that his sister had bought in Jamaica. My back was turned away from him, and when I turned back around he was down on one knee. I was completely shocked when he said, ‘I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you my love. Will you marry me?’ Of course I said ‘yes.’ It was a beautiful day and he did it in a private place where he was comfortable, and I will always love him for this since everything associated with our actual wedding day was so elaborate.”