Anne and Ashley

Our Stories

Anne

I grew up in various parts of southwestern Ontario, mostly the the Kitchener-Waterloo area or on the shores of Lake Huron in the summers. In my early 20’s, after a short career as an apprentice electrician, I enlisted in the RCAF as an avionics technician. After I completed my training I was posted to CFB Petawawa, in eastern Ontario near where Ashley and I live now, despite my military service coming to an end last spring.

I came out as trans and began transitioning in the months before the move. As I settled in to my new community I made a number of close friends both in person and online, including Sharon, who would wind up introducing Ashley and I. Once that happened we hit it off right away.

Ashley and I share a number of hobbies and interests, such as aviation and electronics. More than that though from the beginning she showed me that she really saw me for who I am; and for a girl who hid herself away for so long the safety and mutual support I found in that told me everything I needed to know.

Ashley

My first few years were in Sherbrooke, Quebec, where I learned French and was surrounded by loving family. I moved to New Hampshire with my parents and siblings when I was seven, so most of my life has been in the states. However I’ve always felt a certain draw back to my Home and Native Land. I’ve travelled extensively, including in Canada, and through coming out as trans and meeting new people in the queer community I was lucky enough to end up meeting Anne.

As I started to get to know Anne it became clear that we had a lot in common. We have similar nerdy interests, we want the same things out of life, and have already been able to support each other through difficult times. When we’d known each other for just a few months, we decided to travel to the Canadian Rockies together, road tripping through BC and the Icefields Parkway. Staying at a small cabin just outside a national park, laughing and cuddling, I knew she was the one. That was over two years ago, and I’m only more certain of that now.

After some tearful goodbyes to friends and family in the states, I moved in with Anne in July of 2025. Living back here in Canada has been a wonderful experience, especially with someone that I care for so deeply.

How We Met

We’ve been deeply involved with our local queer communities ever since coming out. And it turns out, those communities extend, one way or another, across considerable distance and national boundaries. Our mutual friend Sharon met us separately at different queer gathering places – one in NH, and one online. She then talked us both into attending a nerdy convention in Nashua, NH where we met and very quickly hit it off. Sharon will be officiating the wedding, bringing things full circle!

Our Engagement

We knew we wanted our engagement to be spectacular, and so with that in mind we planned our second trip to the Canadian Rockies for October, 2025. The rulebook around engagement kind of goes out the window with queer couples, so we decided in advance that while surprise is nice, a mutual engagement with a hand-picked backdrop would be even better. Overlooking Lake Louise in Banff National Park early in the morning, first Anne then Ashley said a few intimate words, took a knee, and offered the other a ring. Aside from dropping one of the ring boxes off a railing (fortunately with the ring not in it), it was the most ideal proposal we could imagine. Since then we’ve been planning our wedding and are so very excited to marry our best friend.