A couple who started their relationship during the covid-19 lockdown, never met but courted virtually have have now wedded via zoom.
26-year-old Ayse and 24-year-old Darrin began their transatlantic relationship during the pandemic.
They met online via a Facebook group aimed at pairing up pen pals from around the world. Ayse said she initially stated speaking with Kenda, 56 who later introduced her to her son Darrin.
She said he was a similar age and would like to chat with someone from the UK. Darrin was based in Detroit, Michigan in the US.
They both hit it off nicely as friends in July 2020 and started charting regularly until they became inseparable and spoke on phone every night.
The distance and 5-hour time difference was no barrier to the growing affection and they soon planned a physical meeting.
Ayse wanted to visit the US to meet her lover but the pandemic travel restrictions made it impossible so they made do with weekly date nights when they would order each other takeaway foods and other gifts.
On the 21st of May, 2021, Darrin popped the 4-worded question and an excited Ayse said ‘yes.’
With restrictions preventing them from meeting for a long time, the couple decided to get wedded via Zoom, in a legal ceremony officiated in Utah, US.
On August 19 this year, Ayse and Darrin became husband and wife, with a small number of friends and family there to see it through video call.
Months after their wedding, they are yet to meet face-to-face. They speak multiple times a day while waiting for Ayse’s visa application to be accepted.
Ayse, a cleaner, from Lancaster, said: “I never imagined this would happen to me in a million years.
“I don’t think anyone expected this when we started talking last year.
“But we’re married and it’s all completely legal and official – I still can’t believe it.
“It’s been really hard not being able to meet properly, but in the long run it will make us stronger because we’ve had to go through all of this to be together.
“We just really love each other.”
Ayse said she was only looking for a pen pal to cure her boredom in lockdown but she found love.
“It’s funny that I met my mother-in-law before I met my husband,” Ayse said.
“We got on so well, so when she suggested speaking to her son, I thought it was a great idea – although I was a bit nervous at first because I’d seen photos of him and he looked lovely.”
“I knew he was from the US so didn’t expect anything from it but thought it would still be interesting to chat to someone from somewhere else.”
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Pandemic Couple Never Met, Courted Virtually, Wedded via Zoom