In March this year, Emily Champion, 25, and Nick Letherbarrow, 32, matched on Bumble.
Just as the pair were about to go for their first real date, the world entered a pandemic and the country went into lockdown.
With people in Nick’s office testing for Covid-19, he was forced to isolate in his London apartment while Emily went back to her parents in the Cotswolds.
But, the pair decided to keep talking and began dating virtually.
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Eventually, they were able to meet in July, and quickly became a couple, before going on their first holiday to Croatia.
They also recently visited France and decided to quarantine together afterwards, staying at Emily’s flat in Barnes, ahead of a lockdown looming.
When the pandemic starts to recede, Emily and Nick hope to move in together officially.
The couple has also decided they will travel the world together as soon as they are able to.
Nick and Emily started out arranging dates online, sending each other hampers with things to do.
As well as drinks and snacks, they sent each other care hampers too, full of things they knew the other would love.
The couple tells Metro.co.uk: ‘Throughout lockdown, we had to adapt. FaceTime dates had to replace in-person dates and on reflection, having to go about everything in a virtual manner actually created a much deeper connection than perhaps you normally would.
‘We started sending each other weekly drink hampers as a surprise for our Friday FaceTime dates. For example, Nick sent me everything for Aperol Spritz one time.
‘Another time, I sent him everything for Moscow Mules including the copper cups and reusable straws.
‘As things progressed, we even sent each other a few care hampers including when Nick sent me some paints to help me get back into my artistic roots. I used these later down the line to create our first picture together.’
When restrictions eased in July, they were able to meet.
For their first date, which fell on Emily’s 25th birthday, Nick came over to her place in South West London as they weren’t comfortable dining out yet.
‘We were so nervous to finally meet in person,’ they added.
‘You don’t realise how much you to take for granted – touch and smell etc.
‘We were relieved to immediately click, we felt like we’d known each other for ages.’
They then planned their trip to Croatia which they documented on their joint Instagram account @emzandnick.
‘Everyone wanted to know where we stayed, they found us hilarious and entertaining together,’ the couple added.
‘So we thought “why don’t we make this a thing? We love creating content. We want to travel the world together. We want to bring positivity to people’s screens. Let’s bring this to life and capture it!”’
They credit the pandemic to speeding up their relationship.
‘The pandemic certainly has acted as a catalyst for our relationship!’ they said.
‘We definitely know we can live together – it’s just so easy and fun and we make the perfect team (“quaranteam” as we like to call it)
‘We’d rather be together the whole time than risk another lockdown happening and having to spend months apart (although we feel totally prepared if that were to happen as we’d go back to our FaceTime dates – like the good old days!)’
Nick and Emily are planning to kick off their travels from Italy when it is safer to do so.
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