Our Love Story

How it Began

We owe a lot to our mutual friend Donald.  He saw that we were both available back in 2014 and doggedly kept working to introduce us – we’re eternally grateful that he did!  Leigh became friends with Don through Daniel Francis who would often have Don, her and other friends out for dinner at his farm in Milo, AB. Don became friends with Rory when Rory was working at the Glenbow museum. Don is an archivist who used to volunteer at the Glenbow. 

We started out with a bit of a Valentine’s Day romance.  We went out for coffee on the Wednesday night before Valentine’s Day, and then went on to a nice Valentine’s Day dinner at an East Indian restaurant.  Then we went on to spend a lot more time together.  We found out quickly that we share a love of dancing, and we’re eager to show you what we’ve been learning for the last few years together – we have a few special dance performances for you at the wedding!  We really hope that all of you will be up on the dance floor with us too!  We also found out that we share so many more common interests – hiking, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, skating, opera, theatre, cats….and of course museums!  We hope to do a lot of travel to visit museums in many different places together.  We’ve also spent a lot of time with Rory’s children, Evan and Emily, doing fun activities like archery, camping, snow shoeing, cross-country skiing, horse back riding, and playing a variety of board games.

We also have a fair bit in common when it comes to family. Both of our mothers are librarians. Rory’s dad was an organic chemistry professor and Leigh’s dad was a chemical engineer before he became a lawyer.  Leigh’s family has several lawyers, actually.  Rory’s grandma was also a lawyer – as well as his cousin.

Rory proposed on Mount Indefatigable (in Kananaskis Country, to the west of Banff), which is his favourite trail in the Rockies.  We had a nice picnic lunch after, and celebrated with a special replica bottle of champagne from the Titanic that Rory had been saving for just such an occasion.  On the way down, Leigh sang to the bears that they shouldn’t eat her – that she wasn’t delicious!

Although we’ve been engaged for a while (Covid got in the way of a lot of things), we’re excited to share our special day with all of you!