Danielle Cadhit, a 35-year-old creative strategist, met Amir Salihspahic, a 35-year-old software engineer, over 11 years ago on Tinder. After a false start, the pair hit it off at a VIP screening of Interstellar about three months later. They bonded over similar work projects, Amir’s questionable taste in hip-hop and a deep mutual love of the NBA. Two years later, they moved into a 38th-floor condo, where they weathered the pandemic together. Amir proposed shortly before the couple bought their first home together in 2022. In 2024, they opted for an adventurous elopement that included a helicopter ride from Langdon Hall to a secret beach ceremony in Goderich. Four months later, they hosted a reception and big reveal at Twist Gallery. Here’s how it all came together.
Danielle: Amir and I matched on Tinder near the end of 2013. We’d both recently finished our undergrads. Amir was living in Toronto, and I was living with my parents and working remotely in Pickering, plotting my move back to the city.
Amir: I was curious to meet new people. Danielle and I started messaging a bunch. We connected mostly over work. At the time, I was a web developer and Danielle was a digital consultant. We quickly moved our conversation over to text.
Danielle: But we were both swallowed whole by work, and neither of us made an effort to meet up. Our chat ended up petering out.
Amir: Months after we stopped texting, I was out to dinner in Toronto. I hadn’t seen anyone else in that time, but here and there Danielle would pop into my head. I walked past the Aura building downtown, and it reminded me of her because she had mentioned wanting to live in it. I took a blurry photo of it while walking by—not my finest work, I’ll admit—sent it to her and asked if she still wanted to go out.
Danielle: Serendipitously, I had just signed a lease in that building the week before. It felt like fate. But I was still hesitant. By then, I was half-committed to having the best solo era of my life. Still, I was curious, and he seemed genuinely kind.
Amir: We met at the movie theatre at Yonge and Dundas and watched Interstellar. On my way there, I walked by what looked like a cool cocktail bar called the Black Canary. I wanted to impress Danielle with something more upscale than an average pub, so I suggested it.
Danielle: Turns out it was a tiny coffee shop inside the Silver Snail—and neither of us likes comics.
Amir: I was embarrassed. We dipped and headed to a bar.
Danielle: Right away, I felt like I could talk to Amir about anything. I didn’t have to dumb myself down to be more palatable; he met me where I was at intellectually—I made a heady joke about quantum physics after Interstellar that really landed.
Amir: Our conversation was so easy that we kept making excuses to keep hanging out more. Danielle needed a TV for her new apartment, so we ended our date by going to Future Shop and picking out a big screen together.
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Danielle: We started seeing each other regularly, but I felt like I needed to protect my independence. I instated a rule: we’d only hang out once a week, on Fridays.
Amir: I was happy to give Danielle space, but I looked forward to those Fridays. We had a lot in common. My parents are from Bosnia, and Danielle’s are from the Philippines, and our families have a lot of the same core values. We also discovered that we’re both obsessed with the NBA; we still host All-Star watch parties to this day.
Danielle: About six months in, I softened my once-a-week rule after an incident. I was leaving my apartment with my dog, Milo, when somehow his leash snapped and he got trapped in the building’s elevator alone. I freaked out and impulsively called Amir. I was totally incoherent in my stress, but he calmed me down, dropped everything and came over. When he showed me how much he cared about me—and Milo—I realized I’d developed big feelings for him. We kept Fridays as our tradition, but suddenly I wanted to see him on the odd Tuesday or Thursday too.
Amir: Two years later, in 2016, we moved in together. We stayed in the Aura building but moved to a different unit.
Danielle: Living together was breezy. We spent a lot of time laughing together. I remember one day Amir had just come home and something he said reminded me of G-Unit. I said, “Who even listens to G-Unit anymore?” He pulled out his phone and had literally just been listening to it.
Amir: My bad taste in rap became a big running joke for us. We really matured together in that apartment. I feel like it’s where we became adults. But marriage didn’t cross our minds.
Danielle: We were still in our 20s. The only thing we talked about was not believing in the old-school nuclear model of marriage and family. All the marriages I had seen growing up had been legalities—not loving unions. Why would I want that?
Amir: After quarantining together in 2020, we felt like our relationship could withstand anything. Eventually we outgrew the place and started looking for our first house, in 2022.
Danielle: We decided to start looking in Waterloo, because our budget would go further there than in Toronto. Plus we’d be able to easily visit Amir’s family, who lives there and we’re close with.
Amir: In the year leading up to buying the house, the idea of marriage started to feel less like a flimsy piece of paper and more like a way to deepen what we’d built. I saw friends get happily married, and it looked like fun. The fact that Danielle was willing to move out of Toronto to be closer to my family also felt intimate to me.
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Danielle: In October of 2022, my friends started nonchalantly asking what kind of ring I’d want. I didn’t have an answer for them. I had never thought about gems or cuts. But I didn’t suspect anything—I thought it was just a fun, purely hypothetical question.
Amir: Based on their slim insights and our eight years together, I chose a rose-gold band with delicate clear diamonds. After I bought it, I was so excited to propose. I often can’t wait for the date of a special occasion to give a gift.
Danielle: One Friday, about a week before our anniversary, I had just wrapped up work in the living room. I heard some vague commotion in the kitchen. I went to ask Amir if he wanted to go out and get charcuterie—and found him tying a scarf with a ring in it on Milo.
Amir: I was so nervous. I was fumbling.
Danielle: The proposal caught me off guard. He nervously asked, “Will you marry me?” I was quiet and stunned—and also really craving wine and cheese—but I said yes immediately. The whole thing felt really intimate: it was just us at home on our typical Friday date night, a tradition we still keep to this day.
Amir: When Danielle slipped the ring on, we realized I had gotten the size wrong—it was way too big. But we laughed it off and I promised to get it resized.
Danielle: My craving had not vanished, so we went to get wine and charcuterie, then had a living room dance party, just us two.
Amir: We didn’t tell anyone for about 24 hours. We wanted it to be just our news. Then, the next day at a house walkthrough, we told our families. Both of our moms exclaimed, “Finally!”
Danielle: Moving to Waterloo was so exhausting that we paused wedding planning for a while. We just wanted to get settled. And living in Waterloo was lonely for me—it was a big change of pace, and I wasn’t used to not having my friends around all the time. It was hard to think of throwing any sort of party with our lives turned upside-down.
Amir: We were also waiting for the right inspiration to strike. We floated the idea of a destination wedding somewhere warm, like Mallorca, which we liked because it’s in Europe but has an island culture. Then we thought, What if we had four weddings?
Danielle: We considered hosting a destination wedding; a small wedding for friends in Toronto; one in the Philippines, where I’m from; and one in Bosnia, where Amir’s from, so all of our people could come.
Amir: That didn’t happen. Not only would it have been shockingly expensive, but the logistics would have been a nightmare.
Danielle: We turned over a few more ideas, but the thought of publicly announcing vows made us both nauseous. We’re both private people, and the public declaration of love felt performative. Neither of us wanted to devalue the sacredness of our feelings for each other.
Amir: In 2025, we realized we wanted to elope. At the time, we were also in the market for a second home, in Toronto. When we bought our Waterloo house, we thought we’d make gains on it, sell it, then finally be able to afford a similar, if not better, house in Toronto by our 40s. But Toronto is home, so we accelerated our timeline and decided to buy a pied-à-terre in the city instead. Now we split our time between both cities.
Danielle: I was searching online for elopement wedding planners and found Elopers and Co., a company that has gained some local fame for audacious, outdoorsy ceremonies involving hikes, boats and helicopters.
Amir: I was into the idea. My only concern was that Milo had to come, which ruled out a hot summer hike. But Milo would do just fine in a helicopter.
Danielle: We booked the ride for late summer and planned to keep it a secret from everyone. We wanted to keep our marriage a private thing that we could enjoy together for a few months. We figured it would be fun for us to do some sneaking around.
Amir: We decided we’d break the news to our guests by hosting a fake ceremony and a real reception back in Toronto in the fall.
Danielle: One of my best friends took me dress shopping at Guelph’s Crème Couture in June. I had told everyone I was shopping late for a November wedding, but little did they know I had even less time. I found my dress—a minimal ivory silk number with simple straps, a cowl neck and beaded pearls—almost immediately. I also ordered a veil decorated with lotuses from ValentiVeils. Lotuses are born in the mud, and I chose it as a symbol of new beginnings.
Amir: I’ve always liked light purple, but I rarely get the chance to wear it, so I ordered a lavender linen suit from Indochino. We got Milo a matching harness suit off of Etsy. For the reception, I had a more winter-appropriate suit custom-made by Surmesur.
Danielle: We designed custom wedding rings at the end of 2024 using an online service to create the sketch, then had them made by a local jeweller in 2025.
Amir: I wanted a bit of bling, so my ring has black diamonds with a contrasting gold band. I also bought an inverted tungsten version—black on the outside, gold on the inside—that I wear for travel.
Danielle: My ring is a double-sided rose-gold band that matches the engagement ring. One side has ten emeralds—one for each year we spent together before marriage—and the other has a Möbius twist that represents infinity.
Amir: When our first wedding day came, we got ready in our house together, but I left earlier for Langdon Hall, where we were getting picked up by the helicopter, so I could “meet” Danielle again at the venue. They booked us the stretch Hummer limo of helicopters—huge windows, shiny exterior and way longer than we had pictured. We were so excited the whole time. During the trip, we wore headsets so we could hear each other, and the photographer brought a tiny fan to keep Milo cool.
Danielle: We went on a floating ride over vast swaths of emerald farmland that turned to crystalline blue water as we descended on a public beach in Goderich—a locale that’s one of our elopement planner Jeff Maeck’s best-kept secrets. Everyone in the helicopter was joking that it felt like we were landing in the Caribbean.
Amir: When we hit the sand, a small crowd of strangers gathered around us, but our team was quick to tell them that we were getting married. They gave us some space.
Danielle: During the ceremony, all I could see was sand, water and Amir. It was so serene. The setting allowed me to drop in, not worry about anything else that was going on and stand totally affirmed in my decision to marry Amir.
Jeff personalized our ceremony using anecdotes we’d provided in advance. He wove in how much I love that Amir remembers the smallest details, leaves me notes and makes my biggest dreams happen. He also included funny details about us—how Amir uses way too many towels at the sauna and how I leave hundreds of products on the bathroom counter—but emphasized that our love prevailed anyway. We cried—and then we laugh-cried.
Danielle: For my vows, I framed us as a free bird and a lone wolf—an unconventional pair choosing each other. Previously, I thought of freedom as opposite to commitment, but with Amir I learned that they can go hand in hand. As for Amir, he’d live in a cabin in the woods if he had his way. It means a lot to me that he chose his path with me instead.
Amir: And in mine, I talked about our long time together, particularly our ups, and how we were strong enough to weather any downs. I made a promise to love her for the rest of my life.
Danielle: Right after we exchanged rings, Jeff surprised us by playing a terrible rap song—a song far too embarrassing to disclose—for the entire beach to hear. It was hilarious. After we signed our marriage papers on the side of the helicopter, we had a picnic on the beach next to the gentle waves.
Amir: Over the next four months, keeping the marriage secret was stressful. We kept forgetting to take our rings off, but thankfully I only had one close encounter with my mom. I was test-driving a new car in her neighbourhood, and I saw her on the street. I asked if she wanted to come along for the test ride, and she did, with my hand in plain view on the wheel the whole time. She didn’t notice it. I think lying to everyone was harder than planning the wedding.
Danielle: Our ceremony fake-out and reception day was on our 11th anniversary, November 29, 2025, and the big reveal came in two parts. For pre-reception cocktails at the Drake Hotel, where we were staying, we gathered our six closest friends around a burn-away cake. The top layer burned down to reveal a message that read, “Plot twist: we secretly eloped!” I asked one of my friends—who doubled as our DJ—to get in on our secret and pretend to be an officiant who had lost the paperwork.
Amir: For the reception, we decided to rent out Queen West’s Twist Gallery and turn it into our personal living room. In our invitations, we asked that guests tell us what “home” meant to them in their RSVP, which we later used to inspire the decor and create a big collage.
Danielle: After I walked down the aisle at Twist, our fake officiant started hamming it up. He freaked out and implored everyone to look around and check under their seats for the papers. Under each chair was a postcard with images from our August elopement that said, “We’re already married.”
Amir: Some guests were confused, but no one was genuinely upset because they knew it was such an “us” thing to do. They were just happy we did it our way.
Danielle: We rolled in a TV and showed all our guests the elopement video. Sharing that moment with our friends and family felt vulnerable but important—a brave step for us.
Amir: At our cocktail hour, we passed out canapés and a “craft your own gin and tonic” bar with a small bottle opener and everyone’s name on a tonic bottle.
Danielle: I led a spoon toast, where we clinked glasses with our spoons. In Southeast Asian cultures, especially Filipino culture, we eat with a spoon and a fork. Amir’s mom always sets a spoon at my place, so it was a way of bringing that feeling into the room.
Amir: Spoons also came up with our trivia portion after the speeches. We passed a spoon around while music played, and when the music stopped, whoever was holding the spoon had to answer a trivia question about our relationship.
Amir: Right before dinner, we had our first dance to “Something Special” by Usher. R&B is our favourite genre by far.
Danielle: That said, Amir didn’t know the song until we got on the dance floor. A few days earlier, we had searched “easy moves for first dance at wedding” on YouTube, got the gist with a few key steps, then winged the rest. The lyrics really encapsulate our love for each other. When Amir heard Usher sing, “Please be patient, hesitation aside,” I think he saw all of the patience in our long engagement and even longer relationship all culminating in this moment.
Danielle: We got everyone on the dance floor for a big group photo—a sneaky way to kick off the dance party. The dance floor got lively, but—thankfully—not totally unhinged.
Amir: At a lot of my friends’ weddings, there was a point when guests would start taking their shirts off. Our DJ joked that, after 11 p.m., once the elders were gone, shirts could come off—but they stayed on.
Danielle: I think some of the booze got soaked up by our late-night Filipino halo halo and Bosnian burek treats. We wanted to sneak in references to our heritages wherever possible, and a lot of guests got to try both for the first time.
Amir: As guests headed home in phases, we stayed until the very end, then wandered back to the Drake around 2 a.m.
Danielle: We felt loved up but totally wiped out. But, when we woke up the next morning, the world felt so overwhelmingly right. Being married feels different, more secure. We feel profoundly grateful to be together—and proud of it. Keeping it a secret was fun for a few months, but it’s so much better to have shared our love with our people.
Cheat Sheet
Elopement
Date: August 6, 2025
Photography and videography: Lindsay Coulter, Timothy Muza
Planner: Elopers and Co.
Venue: Secret beach in Goderich
Florals and decor: Studio Ingenue, Belloon
Officiant: Jeff Maeck
Cake: The Caketender
Catering: Grazing Daisy
Danielle’s hair: Alyssa Doucet
Danielle’s dress: Crème Couture
Amir’s suit: Indochino
Reception
Date: November 29, 2025
Photography and videography: Amare Studios, Brideflicks (content creation)
Planner: Weddings and Proposals by Ella
Venue: Twist Gallery
Invitations: With Joy
Catering: JP Fine Foods
Late-night food stations: iLoveLola.to, Mrakovic Fine Foods
Florals: Floral installation by Jaded Vine, bouquets and table decor by Danielle Cadhit
Cake: Bake With Pookie
Entertainment: DJ Chase and Ama Liyanage of Greyishteal
Danielle’s hair: NC+ Salon
Danielle’s makeup: Danielle Cadhit
Danielle’s nails: Claws Done by Chi
Danielle’s outfit: Crème Couture, Vinta Gallery
Amir’s outfit: Surmesur
