London in love: meet the couples of the capital

They’re snogging at the station, canoodling in the cinema and bickering in the street. Meet the couples making the capital’s heart skip a beat
Elliot and Daisy
Lauren Maccabee
Joanna Taylor6 February 2020

“We started chatting and before you know it… marriage!”

Uche and George
Lauren Maccabee

Uche, 45, and George, 60, met attending church. They have been in love for 16 years.

Uche: We met at our church, The Ultimate Charismatic Centre in Tottenham. A friend of mine invited me to a church program. We got talking about a place in Nigeria and it happened that he had lived there. After talking, it clicked from there. We started chatting and before you know it… marriage. We fell in love.

George: I wasn’t yet a reverend by then; I was a church worker. We got on and went out for a meal to see if our friendship could blossom into more. It was a process that resulted in our twin girls.

“We were so nervous around each other. But here we are”

Alix and Dani
Lauren Maccabee

Alix, 38, and Dani, 27, met four and a half years ago working at a nightclub. They reconnected on Instagram five months ago and have been in love for three months.

Dani: He slid into my DMs. I like to call it the modern day love letter.

Alix: That does sound a lot better…

Dani: I didn’t even realise Alix would follow me because I thought he wouldn’t like me. He’s so quiet and we were both so nervous around each other because we had never really spoken. But here we are.

“She tried to ghost me!”

Elliot and Daisy
Lauren Maccabee

Elliot, 27, met Daisy, 25, when she stopped to pet his dog, Bizzy, in the street on two separate occasions. They have been in love for three and a half years.

Elliot: After we met through Bizzy, Daisy tried to ghost me. Then one night I was out with my friends and I got a call. She said, ‘I’m out with my sister’, and I asked, ‘Oh, Lucy?’ She was like, ‘Yeah! How’d you know?’

I said, ‘What do you mean? Your sister is obviously called Lucy, I’ve met her.’ I said I’ll go and hang with them later and she went, ‘That’s a bit forward.’ I was like, ‘What are you talking about? This is Daisy? Daisy Bird?’ She said, ‘No, it’s Daisy Bowes.’ Turns out I thought it was my housemate named Daisy.

“We first met at infant school”

Kit and Peter
Lauren Maccabee

Kit and Peter, now both 89, met in 1935 while attending infant school. They have been in love for 67 years.

Kit: We first met at infant school in Essex, but we fell in love at a social club aged 22. When he proposed I can’t say he went down on one knee — I think by the time we’d started getting together we already knew each other so well it just fell into place. That’s the potted history. We’ve been to some very nice places for holidays and special occasions in our time. Our favourite place to go is Vienna — we’ve been more than 20 times.

“Without sounding cringe, I knew straight away”

Reva and Jadah
Lauren Maccabee

Reva and Jadah, 25, met on a dating app. They have been in love for two years.

Jadah: We met on a dating app… not to be named.

Reva: We have loads of friends in common though — that’s how we try to justify it.

Jadah: We talked once or twice and met up a week later. We were supposed to go to one pub but we ended up going to five and a chicken place. Now we’re married.

Reva: Without sounding cringe, I knew [I wanted to be with you] straight away.

“There was this empty bathtub we sat in for hours, talking”

Adam and Elliot
Lauren Maccabee

Adam, 18, and Elliot, 17, met at school, talking about their love of rock and metal music. They have been in love for 16 months.

Adam: One of the first times we met, there was an empty bathtub outside on a porch near our school — we sat there for hours talking. We fell in love talking about metal and rock bands like Judas Priest and While She Sleeps, who we went to see last night.

Elliot: We’re looking forward to finishing school and hopefully moving in together.

“It’s illegal to be gay in the Middle East, so we’d have covert dates…”

Sunil and Gaar
Lauren Maccabee

Sunil, 34, and Gaar, 32, met front row at a Scissor Sisters concert in the Middle East and have been in love for eight years.

Sunil: The Scissor Sisters were playing in the Middle East, which is strange because it doesn’t seem like the kind of place they would play. Our friendship groups merged front row, our eyes met and that was that.

Gaar: We totally knew — the chemistry was there immediately. Friendship chemistry for the first five seconds and then it was like, ‘Oooh, I really, really like this guy…’ Dating was difficult — it’s illegal to be gay in [much of] the Middle East — so we’d have covert dates, business meetings.

Sunil: We used to shake hands instead of kissing in public, as if to say, ‘That was a good business meeting.’

“I was just sitting opposite her and said, ‘Let’s go out!’”

Shonali and Farhan
Lauren Maccabee

Shonali, 22, and Farhan, 22, met in the college canteen in Mumbai. They have been in love for four years.

Farhan: We were the same year at college, but she was studying commerce and I was doing science. I saw her in the canteen and I got her number from a friend. On our first date I was just sitting opposite her in the canteen. I said, ‘Let’s go out!’ After a bit of persuasion she said she’d come with a friend. So she came with her friend and we went to a little café. After a week or two I took her out on her own. That’s how it all started.

“When she left, she hugged me twice, so I was like, ‘Alright…’”

Gigi and Piper
Lauren Maccabee

Gigi,18, met Piper, 18, via her ex-boyfriend. They have been in love for almost a year.

Piper: Her ex-boyfriend went to my sixth form and I always knew about her because when you’re our age, you just know everyone through Instagram and stuff. I think she followed me on Instagram and then we just started messaging each other. Then after a week she said, ‘When can you see me?’ We went to the Tate and then met some friends at the pub. When she left, she hugged me twice. So I was like, alright, there is definitely something going on here.

“Our eyes met. Then I woke up in his bed”

Dwayne and Sarah
Lauren Maccabee

Dwayne, 41, and Sarah, 33, met at rock music bar Big Red on Dwayne’s birthday. They have been in love for almost six years.

Sarah: We both got dragged out that night. My housemate brought me to a party and it was rubbish. Then my friend said I should come to the Big Red. Dwayne was there and our eyes met. Then I woke up in his bed. He said this at our wedding — I was like, ‘Mum, shut your ears!’ But nothing happened. I was just really drunk and passed out. In the morning I was like, ‘Oooh, who are you?’ We went for breakfast and sat in this café for hours and chatted about everything.

“It was a real ‘Sliding Doors’ moment

Gavin and Sotos
Lauren Maccabee

Gavin, 51, pointed out that 48-year-old Sotos’s tail lights weren’t working on his car. They have been in love for 26 years.

Sotos: We literally met on the street in Crystal Palace. I parked the car, went into an off-licence, and when I came back someone went, ‘Oh, your tail light is not working.’ That was 26 years ago.

Gavin: It was a Sliding Doors moment. We still live in Crystal Palace now.

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