Here is a brief overview, though we imagine everybody will hear it, if they haven’t already, during the speeches…

We were first introduced in reception, and were seated next to one another by virtue of our surnames being a letter apart. There we would stay for the next ~7 years.

Being top table and top set for everything (bar Elliot’s short stint on the second table for English, and Laudy’s slip to the 80+ cohort of the 100 club) meant we stayed very motivated to be top of the class. As the only ‘real’ competition for most of our subjects, the Achiever of The Term and Year certificates bounced from one of our fridges to the other, till we were informally banned from the title. It also meant we hated each other, and crying about being second also bounced from one house to the other.

The 11+ was our final battle (which Laudy won btw) and we each went to a different single-sex branch within the same grammar school foundation. This essentially meant we didn’t get a clean break, as we’d hear about the other’s achievements at parties with friends attending the other schools. We did manage to avoid one another despite living 0.2mi apart, by turning our backs if we were at the same tram stop.

This may not have been the most sustainable solution, however, as we seem to now be making up for it. An invitation to a vicarage dinner soon became consecutive evenings chatting under the streetlights in front of our houses, Elliot playing the piano at Laudy, Laudy talking antiques at Elliot, and eventually everybody repeating the whole ‘you’re obsessed with one another’ refrain from primary school. Goaded by our respective friend groups, we started Actually Dating.

We first navigated a mid-distance relationship, with Laudy living in London to work in Parliament, and Elliot living and working in Loughborough University’s architecture studio. Elliot then followed Laudy to London, working at Adam Architecture. Here we’ve made the most of London life, with frequent trips to the Royal Ballet and Opera, all the galleries and exhibition spaces,

We’ve also travelled to Barcelona, Essaouira, Amsterdam, Val-de-Marne, and elsewhere, as a couple and with our families. Elliot hasn’t only taken Laudy’s general oddness in his stride, but also her tendency to be ill on the way back from holiday, once resulting in him spending the night in a bathtub in Leicester Royal Infirmary…

The headline trip was, of course, our Easter in India, where Elliot managed to ask multiple branches of Laudy’s extended family for her hand without her noticing! They said yes, and she soon followed suit, with the proposal taking place after church one Sunday, under Laudy’s favourite tree in her favourite London park <]:•D