A Vintage, Victorian Wedding In Niagara-On-The-Lake

About the couple

Bride: Sarah DePalma

Groom: Ken Maly

How they met: “Ken just started working at the university where I was finishing up my education. We had a mutual interest in getting people in our small chemistry department to venture out weekly to local pubs, which was a great success,” explains Sarah. “Every time a large group of us went out though, somehow Ken and I always ended up sitting next to each other and were always the last to leave. He had the most amazing smile. Since I was too shy to say anything to him, my lovely, sneaky roommates knew I needed just a little push. They asked him out for dinner over MSN, pretending to be me (which they told me about the moment they sent the message so there was no turning back), and almost immediately Ken offered to prepare something delicious that he thought I would enjoy. Turned out the man was quite handy in the kitchen, and more shy than me. We had the most sensational dinners together a couple evenings a week, full of wine and the most delicious food, and after a month of wondering where this relationship was going, he gently pulled me close and kissed me.”

Engagement story: “I am not a traditional person when it comes to engagements. Stories of surprise proposals are incredibly sweet and always make me teary-eyed,” Sarah recalls. “For Ken and I, we already lived together and made important decisions about our future together, so I believed the decision to get married should be grouped in with that. We have no shortage of love and respect for each other and I was madly in love with him, so the discussion came up one morning after breakfast. Little did I know Ken had planned a romantic dinner for us in the house that evening, with candles, roses, red and pink M&Ms. A little box appeared on the table alongside dessert when my Kenny asked to make our engagement official.”