6 Meet-Cute Stories That Actually Happened In Real Life

"We both left our appointments at the same time, walked out the back door, and chatted all the way to the parking lot where our cars were coincidentally parked beside each other. Two weeks later, I saw him again. This time I was leaving as he arrived. (Confession: I walked through the waiting room instead of the back exit just in case he was there.) 'I’ll see you again in two weeks,' he said. Nope. I told him I was taking a break from therapy. I wouldn’t be back for a while. He suggested we get together outside of the office … and the rest is history!”

— Jess, 48, and Greg, 62, married 13 years, Texas (shown in the photograph above)

Green with Envy 

"I met [my wife] at the gym. She got stood up the night before. The guy who stood her up was working out on the treadmill right next to her! She panicked and asked her roommate what to do. She came over to me to make the other guy jealous and the rest is history!” 

— Marlon, 39, and Ashley, 32, married 4 years, Florida 

Mistaken (Sexual) Identity 

“My principal came to me with a university student looking to volunteer in a primary classroom. Initially I refused as I had a challenging class and couldn’t handle another body in the grade 2 room. My principal wouldn’t take no for an answer. And, when she interrupted my lesson, the volunteer thought I was gay. I have a theatre background, am very loud and flamboyant and I was in the middle of an energetic read aloud. We’d both written off relationships, too, so there’s that! Long story short: she entered my classroom and we’ve been together ever since. I proposed after 6 months; I couldn’t hold back and neither could she! We got married in 2006.” 

— Jay, 46, and Andrea, 39, married for 14 years 

Set-up in Aisle Number Four 

"I saw Mike in the grocery store in Baltimore in 2010. I'm a matchmaker so I approached him and said, 'I know this sounds weird, but I'm a matchmaker and I was wondering .... are you single?' He replied, 'The real question is ... are you?' We flirted, exchanged numbers, and the rest is history!”  

— Amber, 40, and Mike, 43, together 10 years, Virginia

She Wore a Raspberry Beret 

"I first saw him at a school dance celebrating Valentine’s Day a month before my 16^th birthday. He danced in the middle of a large circle of his peers yelling out, 'What did she wear?' while the dancing boys and girls surrounding him answered, along with Prince, 'she wore a raspberry beret…' I was smitten. I asked around, discovered his name, and bought him a dozen carnations, sold as a fundraiser at the dance that night and delivered to his homeroom. I signed the card with my first name only. I loved knowing he would feel special when he received them. And I loved cloaking myself in a bit of mystery.  

"He loved receiving them; he loved the attention. It was now his turn to ask around, find out who I was and ask for my phone number. We talked to each other on rotary phones for over an hour that night. He fired off questions, asking, for example, if I preferred grape or orange soda. I said orange. He preferred grape. Our courtship lasted for the next nine and half years until our summer wedding almost a decade later."  

— Christine, 50, and Larry, 51, married 25 years, Connecticut