Gwen Carson met Melissa Munroe online in 2014, when (she says with a laugh) “the pickings were slim.” Gwen’s terribly lit profile photo didn’t inspire much confidence, but Melissa sent a message anyway. A dreamy back-and-forth quickly took root, with the conversation carrying over from dating app to text to, eventually, a six-hour first date at The Foggy Goggle.
“I knew Gwen was someone special when I didn’t wanna hang out with anyone else,” Melissa recalls.
“I’m spontaneous—” Gwen begins.
“Sporadic, quick edit,” Melissa quips. “People can be so gooey, like saying, ‘She completes me’ and good for them, but I say we complement each other—she brings out what I lack.”
The two live in Dartmouth with a dog and a cat. The possibility of one day growing their family (“I’ve always wanted to foster or adopt or have kids,” Melissa shares) meant marriage was the next step.
Melissa planned how she’d propose to Gwen for over a year, gifting her a raincoat one birthday, luggage the following Christmas, then, eventually, surprising her with a trip to Ireland. On one knee, plane tickets in hand, “she asked me on the spot,” Gwen says.
“It’s important to me that we can get married,” she continues. “It’s important to see we look like everyone else and we also look like ourselves. It’s important for our family to see that, too.”
The two plan to tie the knot at the Central Library in October 2019. While details of the big day are still being settled, Gwen knows the venues are set: “I crossed the harbour for her, so the reception will be in Dartmouth.”