I'm sure you're looking at our wedding photos and thinking..."wow they're so in love, how romantic! They must have the best love story"...but the truth is well it's not THE most romantic but it's definitely authentic.

Zsolt and I met back in 2017. At the time I opened and ran a restaurant business with my father in Paphos, and on the opening day Zsolt walked in with his then girlfriend as the second guests in our restaurant. We offered them a table, gave them the menus, and didn't really think much of it. I was under so much pressure from the business that I couldn't see anything or anyone to be honest, PLUS I was also in a relationship at that time.
Now if you ask Zsolt to tell you about the first time we met, he'll tell you a whole other perspective. Despite the fact that he was in a relationship, the minute he walked through our restaurant doors, he had MOST definitely noticed me! I intrigued him not only based on my physical appearance, but also for the fact that he heard my father and I speaking Romanian so he wanted to know our story. My dad's a super talkative, oversharing kind of guy, so of course he was super eager to let all the cats out of the bag about our background, where we came from, who we are, why we opened etc etc.
Fast forward a few months into running our restaurant, Zsolt and his then girlfriend became our regulars. GO FIGURE! I knew their standard orders by heart and their signature cocktails. Eventually, his girlfriend and I actually developed a friendship...I know, right? I'm sure you're confused but stay with me, it GETS BETTER!

After nine months into the business, my whole world blew up. I ended up going through the most difficult period of my life. From the business failing, to feeling alone in a foreign country (originally from Canada, now living in Cyprus), to my parents hitting their own rough patch and having it all spill into our lives, and paired with my own toxic relationship, safe to say I fell into a dark chamber of depression, intrusive thoughts, and overall chaos.

Throughout this time, I found it really hard to stand on my feet. I found a passion in my photography and videography and started creating some work here and there to keep my mind and hands busy. Ironically enough Zsolt and his then girlfriend got engaged and at her request I ended up doing their engagement photoshoot, FOR FREE of course, as I was just starting out in the business. Don't worry, they're no longer a part of my portfolio XD

After my parents left the island, I continued to try and run the restaurant on my own also, until I no longer couldn't. One night, while I was closing up the restaurant, Zsolt's then girlfriend came by for a drink and handed me a copy of their apartment keys. She knew I was going through it and just said if ever I needed a place to stay and unwind, the door is open. I thought nothing of it at that moment, and didn't understand what she was foreshadowing to come.

I took the keys and boy am I glad I did. They literally saved my life. Those details are a little too personal to share, but I'll just say the floodgates of hell broke loose in my then relationship and I needed refuge. So I left my flat and ran to their apartment. 

Zsolt was away on a three week leisure trip in Canada at the time visiting his brother, so it was just me and his then fiance. We partied, and bonded, and then she dumped the news on me that as soon as he was getting back she was going to leave him. I didn't know much about him, I didn't judge nor care, I had my own load to deal with. Her and I weren't best friends by any means, but I guess we enjoyed each other's company at that time. For two weeks whilst living with her I sat there listening to her bash him for XYZ reasons (obviously she was upset over something).
Funny enough, on the day he was landing she asked me to take his car, drive to Larnaca and pick him up, as she really couldn't be bothered sorting any other way out for him, AND she didn't drive. I said ok. I love driving, it gives me a chance to reflect and just spend time alone. So I drove 1.5 hours to Larnaca to pick him up from the airport, and it was honestly the first time I EVER noticed him and connected on any level. Even when he was a customer in my restaurant I never really cared to speak to him. He had SUCH a warm and genuinely kind nature, I just kept wondering in my head what this girl was going on about the past two weeks and if her decision was the right one.

When I picked him up, he invited me for a coffee before we would head back on the road. I accepted and I remember as we were walking into the coffee shop a little birdie flew right into the sliding glass entrance doors. It was definitely injured but we didn't realize how bad. Zsolt rushed to pick up the birdie, took it in his hands and told me it's dying. I guess he knew a thing or two about animals and birds. We then walked across the street and he placed its body in the field of weeds and grass. He said he didn't feel right just leaving it on the floor to die, or tossing it in the garbage. I was honestly shocked...His level of empathy and compassion had surpassed my expectations, I was immediately hooked after that experience.

We drove back to Paphos for two hours constantly chatting about life, goals, aspirations, trauma and all other things in the sphere of life. We bonded over the fact that we were both born in the same country, spoke the same language and had similar taste in music. I told him that I had been living in his place for the past few weeks due to my personal situation (he had no idea, nor did he anticipate he was about to get dumped). I asked if there was any way I could rent out one of his extra rooms on the second floor of the house. It took him two days to re-adjust and give me an answer, but eventually it was a Yes.

So he was indeed dumped by his then-finance. At one point we were all living together in his three bedroom condo, until she would find a place over the summer to move into. As Zsolt and I became roommates, we also became friends, and I began to notice that I started to have a genuine interest for him and an addiction to his personality. It was so infectious, I was missing him when he wasn't home, and we were JUST roommates.

One day during that summer of the good old times of 2018, I had heard him doing laundry upstairs. The laundry room was outside my bedroom. I remember it was a hot, July afternoon, around 5-6pm when the sun was this beautiful golden color shining through my white cotton bedroom curtains and a cooling breeze coming from the rooftop patio. I opened my door and asked him what he's up to and if he's down for a sunset swim. I didn't have ingenuine intentions, I was more honestly looking to catch a ride to the beach and cool down, but I also secretly loved his company.

His ex-girlfriend wasn't home, but I couldn't even really think or worry about her as something in my gut just said GO. I can't explain it but it just felt right. You JUST know.

We hopped in his old ass red honda and drove down to the beach. It was jam PACKED. I then began to feel a bit anxious because then it all started to sink in... what will people think if they see us together, what will they say, will she find out? Am i supposed to abide by some unwritten don't date my ex man code? But AGAIN, something in my gut said f*** it. 

We went in for a swim, and quickly found out that the reason why the beach was so full at that time was because there was a total lunar eclipse and everyone was there to see it. It couldn't get more romantic right? Hot summer July evening in Cyprus, sunset swim, a full on lunar eclipse, butterflies in my stomach like I was in highschool...oh the times, it was a dream. Sounds like some cheesy romance novel you would read whilst away on a Mediterranean holiday.

Ever since that evening our electric energies connected and we became pretty much inseparable. We spent the rest of August falling in love like highschool sweethearts and made it finally exclusive and official in November of that year. Fast forward a year later, September 2019, we found out we were pregnant with our first boy. I guess you can say we wasted no time, but we were madly in love, and we still are, but it's a more mature kind of love now. 

In a short six years time, we've been through a lot of amazing yet also challenging times together. We had our two boys that are two years apart, we became parents and started a business after Covid. 

Getting married was something we wanted to do from the very beginning but, as life happened it wasn't a priority anymore. We got engaged in 2019 in Budapest, and if it were up to him we would've been married immediately, but Covid hit. Towards the end of last year, November time to be specific, we finally decided to get our paperwork in order and set a date at the town hall in Paphos. What was meant to be only a small and humble civil ceremony turned out to be our dream wedding within four weeks of planning. An unforgettable day of sharing our love with one another but also with our amazing family and friends who flew in from abroad on a whim just to celebrate with us. It was all a part of God's plan to manifest this story into our reality, but also to create such a beautiful wedding. I couldn't be more grateful for everything. 

Oh and if you're wondering about the ex... last I heard she left the island, and we for sure didn't stay friends. XD

Thank you for reading about our crazy love story!

Oana + Zsolt