14/03/2026
Let me take you all back to June 2021, when both Katrina & Darren found themselves single after many years and took the brave step of going online….
K. I’d been single for 4years, and my daughter finally (at the age of 11) gave me permission to ‘meet some’. So, as a single mother of 2, with very limited childcare, a full time job working in a school nursery and no opportunities to meet anyone I decided to try the land of swiping
D. I was ready to think about dating for the first time in 30 years. I tried Tinder first but that was waaay too scary, so I went on Plenty Of Fish.
K. Plenty of Fish was recommended and given my love of the sea and fishing with my dad as a kid I decided to give it a go. Lots of swiping left – any profile with a hint of red flag was rejected. Then I came across Darren – or ‘Dazza’ as his profile name was and I stopped in my tracks. He had the kindest eyes I’d ever seen. So I read through his profile, checking off all the ‘requirements’ I had set – probably most importantly did he like to travel? Yes! he sounded too good to be true! So I swiped right.
D. Kat’s profile was a beautiful picture of her in her car. I thought she was gorgeous and had a fun profile, so I swiped right! One Thursday morning I saw that she had also swiped right and so I sent her a message at exactly the same time as she sent one to me. It was serendipity, and a sign of things to come.
K. We started chatting, hit it off and eventually arranged to have coffee at the Torrance Hotel in East Kilbride, at 2pm.
D. I’d not had a proper first date like this for decades and so I donned my best jeans and made sure I was early. I needn’t have bothered as Kat was fashionably, and not untypically, late. She came in and looked stunning in jeans, a floral blouse and cardi.
K. Obviously I was a few minutes late, so I was a bit flustered when I arrived, but I found him in the bar as arranged and as he stood up to greet me I felt the butterflies, his smile was even warmer in person. We sat and chatted for a couple of hours, and it was like we’d known each other for ever, then towards the end of the date I was looking at him and thinking I really would like to kiss him, and ooops I said it out loud…
D. She was funny, smart and so pretty. She eventually said, “I really want to kiss you right now” and I replied, “Then why don’t you?” and we kissed…just as ‘You Do Something To Me’ by Paul Weller started in the background. It was a magical moment.
K. At that exact moment the world stopped, and I knew that I was done swiping and I wanted this to work. It was the tail end of covid and we were only allowed a 2 hour booking so we had to leave which was not something either of us wanted to do.
D. Sensibly, Kat needed to head home to collect her kids but we stood in the car park in the drizzle, smooching. A piper started to play nearby for another wedding. Eventually she left me standing in the drizzle knowing that I had to see her again.
K. I left, with the sight of him standing in the rain, hands in pocket looking both super sexy and super adorable it was a struggle to keep driving.
D. And that was how it began. We started dating with Kat mainly coming to my flat at weekends.
K. The following September, still very early in the relationship, both my kids tested positive for Covid. It was right around my birthday, but I hadn’t been able to go shopping and was running out of supplies. I messaged Darren and just over an hour later there was a knock at my door. There he was standing laden with bags. He came into the house and sat at the back door, paranoid about catching Covid, but he’d brought chicken nuggets and chips for the kids, other essentials and a beautiful birthday cake, prosecco and presents for me. I was blown away! (he’d already sent flowers that morning) So very much ahead of schedule that is how Darren met my kids.
D. Over the next few years I fell completely in love with her. We discovered over time just how much we had in common and how compatible we were. Life did throw a lot of challenges at us too. Kat lost her stepdad and her sister in law,. I have lost my brother, my lovely Mum and last November my Dad. Having Kat through these times really helped me cope. She has a depth of empathy and compassion that I have never experienced
K. The relationship grew, and we lived for our weekends together and holidays. For my 50th birthday Darren took me on a Mediterranean cruise – something I’d always dreamed of doing and it was magical. He chose the itinerary to make sure I got to see the places that really mattered to me – and helped me scatter some of my dad’s ashes in the harbour in Valletta, Malta, a very special moment for me as he loved Malta and spent many winters there before he died.
D. Kat adores the sun, within minutes her face blossoms with little freckles and her hair becomes that beautiful strawberry blonde colour. She shines in the sun, and she loves water, be it a lake, river or sea. She is never happier then when she can hear water lapping at the shore.
K. Our relationship continued to grow and our love deepened, but we had the distance between us, my children to consider and I was doing a degree at University, which I’d started just after we got together. It wasn’t all plain sailing; on top of losing so many loved ones, there was my mum’s dementia diagnosis and subsequent move to a care home, parenting challenges, co-parenting challenges, failing modules on my degree and resits to name just a few. But with a lot of talking, we worked through it all and started planning a proper future together. Weekends and holidays were not enough; we wanted to have the mundane together as well.
Their ceremony was one of those where I felt somewhat like a third wheel! They locked eyes from the very first moment and stayed that way throughout, and that is so special to see as a celebrant. Their love was truly palpable (and their kids were an absolute joy to meet) Congratulations Mr & Mrs England ❤️
