“Catching an illness from dairy cows isn’t my favourite memory, but that’s when I knew he was the one.”

From long-distance yearning to dairy cow-inflicted illness, true love can withstand it all. Nobody proves that quite like Juliana & George, a Kiwi couple who continually show us that when you find ‘the one’ nothing can stand in your way. We chat with them to hear all about their unique love story.

How did you and your partner meet?

G: We met at university during our first year in 2014. I was an aviation student and Juliana was a vet student. We had the same friend group and slowly got to know each other.

What was the moment that you knew that the other person was the one?

J: It wasn’t really a moment. I always said that I date for marriage, so it was something I’d put out there early on. But it was probably somewhere in our first year, just like moments like that.

G: Mine would be pretty similar, I’d say just in our first year, getting to know each other and spending more time together.

Do you have a favourite memory of a time that you’ve shared together?

G: Juliana came down to the South Island for a vet placement on my parents’ farm. While she was there we went on a trip around the South Island and we went to Lake Tekapo, which is about an hour from here. We went back two years later and then went again for the proposal. So that’s a favourite spot for us, with so many memories of being down there.

J: For me, I was really, really sick at one stage in university. I have so many vet placements and I caught an illness that you get from dairy cows. It was pretty early on in our relationship but I was amazed. He looked after me so well, pretty much 24/7. So it might not be my favourite memory, but that was a moment early on that I knew he was the one.

Do you have a song that reminds you of each other?

J: A funny one would be ‘Watermelon’, by Tom Rosenthal. The whole song is him saying ‘watermelon’. I don’t know how that started, but we would sing the song to each other. It’s silly.

Do you have any fun traditions as a couple?

G:We have to get back into them, but during university and a few years after university, we did ‘alphabet dates’. Which is where each date has to start with a letter from the alphabet. It’s a good challenge but we’re at the hard ones at the moment, at the end of the alphabet. That’s going to be a struggle. I guess we’ll have to go find some zebras.

What is it about your partner that makes you smile?

J: George can seem like a very serious person a lot of the time, but when we’re together, he’s super silly, like a child. I guess it’s because of our professions, he’s a pilot so he has to be all serious. When I went on my first flight with him he was all super serious, talking to the people down on the ground. So that can be what he’s like on the outside, but when we’re together he does the weirdest things.

G: For me, it’s that we’re able to be ourselves around each other.

How did you propose?

G: It goes back to the lakes. We went to Lake Tekapo on our first trip together and then again a couple years later. It’s funny, we ended up going on the same dates so it was a few years later exactly, to the day. We had this rock that we always try to find when we go to the lake. But this time we couldn’t find it for some reason, so we walked around for ages. She was upset that we couldn’t find the rock, so I gave her another rock. [They both laugh]. But there was a hail storm during the proposal as well, so that made it a bit more memorable! We were going on this trip for a week, so I wanted to do it at the start and surprise her rather than trying to be all mysterious. I wanted us to be there enjoying being newly engaged.

How do you both feel about the finished ring?

J: I really love it. I didn’t want anything that was super fancy or flashy, but I like that it’s still dainty. The band is really thin and it’s got just enough sparkle. And I love the yellow gold.

What are some dreams that you have together for the future?

J: Moving to the same city! That is the dream.

G: Being in the same city, definitely. Owning a house and doing all those things that long distance doesn’t let you do, like making dinner for each other and all of the random things like that.

Thanks to Juliana & George for opening up about what brings them together in love. It’s stories like these that keep us excited for the future and all things to come!