Today we are talking Love stories, Cola love stories. You were kind enough to share your first date stories, engagement tales, and other scenes that could have been ripped off straight from a Columbia film with us, and we would like to share them with you while love is still in the air.
Without further ado, here they are 14 times what Cupid visited Columbia.
“I moved to Columbia in search of a job in 2016, 👔 and she moved here to finish her course at @ uofsc… We met at @ViveChurch and got along right away. 💒 Our first meeting was at @ pawleysfrontporch5pts, then at Sesquicentennial State Park, depois and then at Harbison because we didn’t want the meeting to end. It was late, but we made a final stop at @kaminskysvista 🍰 We got married in 2018 and now we are expecting our first child in the summer. 👶🏻 Nowadays, you can find us on the Riverwalk, @sodacitysc market, @lizardsthicket 🦎 or @bluebikesc around town cidade ”- @palmermsmith
“I was 15 years old riding in a car full of girls and we were in an accident at the corner of Trenholm Road and Pinebrook. This handsome guy who lived in Pinebrook ran to check on us because he heard the wreckage.
He then asked someone at the crime scene what my name was and started calling me …
4 years old boyfriend, 31 years old married, 3 children and 1 grandson later !!!!!
This is my love story❌⭕️❌⭕️ ”- Angie M.
“On our first meeting at Uncle Louie’s in the Vista, my (now) fiancé noticed that my voice was very familiar to him … he listened to my radio show on @wuscfm for years! 📻 The third date was Jim Clyburn’s Fish Fry 🐟 at @scstatemuseum – a year later we got engaged at State House 💍 We live at @mainstcolasc and are getting married in May at @historiccolumbia Seibels House 🌸 rehearsal dinner at @huntergathererbrewery Curtiss Hangar Curtiss-Wright ✈️ So much love at Columbia ❤️ ”- @ megnolia12
“I met my partner the day after he returned from Colorado to Columbia. I was working for his mother and we were both renovating the store she owned. It took about six months, well after the work was completed, but we finally found out the following winter. 😄💜 Just over nine years ago and I can’t imagine him not being the person with whom I share a house and several cats. ”- @skeindeepyarn
“My wife and I had a blind date. We met at @dripcoffeecolumbia for a coffee. I was late, but luckily she was. We ended up walking about 5 points just talking. We may have stopped at the insomnia cookies for a treat. ”- @ thisisjosh890
“In November 2017, I was bored of dating and mostly browsing Tinder and Bumble just to capture images of ridiculous profiles and send them to my best friends so we could laugh at them. So I was on the phone with one of them when I said, “I just want a nice, cute, nerdy guy” and bam! Anthony was the next profile that appeared. A few seconds later we agreed, a few minutes later we started talking and a few days later he asked to meet me at Tazza Kitchen for our first meeting. (Now known as our birthday, November 17.) We ate tacos and cocktails and talked about growing up outside of Boston and Raleigh until they closed. We couldn’t believe that we lived in Columbia for 3 to 4 years and we liked so much the same, but we never met. (He even gave a pottery class at the end of my street!) We said goodbye politely in the parking lot and the two of us returned home with smiles on their faces. I texted him as soon as I woke up the next morning and that afternoon we were walking his dog Stella on the Riverwalk. That night we went to Bourbon and Flying Saucer and the next morning he made pancakes for us. We have hardly spent a day or night apart since, and in April 2018, we were going to live together in Canalside Lofts, where we still reside and where we can easily visit the Riverwalk with our dog Stella.
While the first two years of our relationship were full of evening meetings and hanging out with friends at Whig, Soda City Market, Steel Hands Brewery and even some dance classes at the Blue Moon Ballroom, the last year has been filled with transformations from apartment to apartment. a coworking space that also doubles as a Netflix lounge and whiskey bar (haha … but really.) We know that not everyone had such a wonderful company during the pandemic, so we feel really lucky to have had that extra time to enjoy our favorite person. ”- Rebecca D.
“First meeting on @britishbulldogpub, second meeting two days later because we couldn’t wait to see us again at @twisted_spur_brewing. We both live on opposite sides of Columbia, but we find ourselves in the middle and very happy about it! ”- @pndabearadventures
“My wife and I met for lunch with mutual friends at Moe’s in Irmo. I asked her on our first date, 3 months later at a @newbrooklandtavern show. Our first meeting ended with drinks at Liberty. Our courtship was full of Taco on Tuesdays at @thewhig and Saturdays at Soda City Market … the night I proposed, we had dinner at California Dreaming and I asked the question at West Columbia that she had just closed for the night previous. We took our engagement photos on Vista and State Street (we even went back to NBT for some photos). And got married at Main Street Methodist Church. We were a true love story in Soda City! ”- @gamecokben
“Post other breakups for the two of us, my husband and I met on a random unmatched date with Tracie Broom and her then boyfriend. She needed another woman to dine at Motor Supply, because her guy at the time was bringing her childhood friend who shared her birthday. He lived in Charlotte and didn’t know much about Columbia. I agreed to go in, but I had no intention of getting involved with some random guy in any way.
We sat at that table in the middle of the restaurant at Motor, you know which one I mean, and the connection was very instant. We then went to the Conundrum Music Hall to see Josh Roberts and the Hinges. The guy, Chaston, on the dance floor, leaned over and kissed my NECK. I said “go easy sir” and then I started to kiss the other side of my neck.
We then went to Rooster’s Den, one of the best establishments in West Columbia, sang karaoke, drank Fireball shots and danced. Needless to say, either Columbia hooked Chaston to such an extent that he needed to be part of his life or it was all me. Anyway, now 7 years later, 5 of them married, with a 3 year old son, we always celebrate how the charm of Columbia was part of bringing us together. ”- Merritt M.
“I met my fiance in a trunk for the Clemson game and I became engaged to the Horseshoe ♥ ️” – @ jill.lbaker
“My husband and I have an unusual story on the first date. In 1973, I was a student at USC, earning an elementary school diploma and working part time at a printing shop on the corner of Sumter and Hampton Streets. I had to park in a parking meter to go to work after school. One day, I was stopping in a parking space and a handsome young Columbia police cadet was writing parking tickets. He stood up and watched me park. When I got out of the car, he just looked at me and said, “I wondered who owned that car that I always gave parking tickets to.” It turns out that he lived close to me and we had even attended the same schools, but he was a year ahead of me and I didn’t know him.
He accompanied me to my work, got up and talked for a while and stopped to say hello occasionally. He finally found the courage to invite me to lunch with him at Sammy’s Deli on Taylor Street. Our first real meeting was at Pizza Hut with a bunch of friends from the church. After that date, I told my best friend that one day I would marry him. A year later, we became husband and wife and spent 47 sweet years together. I still keep fond memories whenever I visit the former location of these companies. They are long gone, but our love lives stronger than ever. A few years ago, my daughter found two “Precious Moments” Christmas decorations: one for a girl in a convertible VW and one for a boy in a police uniform signing a parking ticket. They stay together at our Christmas tree every year and sum up our casual encounter! ”- Kathy S.
“The husband and I had our first meeting at Il Giorgione and we were engaged there! Our wedding was made to celebrate where we fell in love, Columbia! Reception at Boyd Plaza, F2t attended, rehearsal at Villa Tronco, reception left on blue bikes to Hotel Trundle! ♥ ️ ”- @ kmichele17
“My fiancee and I met on February 10, 2020 at Publico for our first meeting. We spent the months of blocking the pandemic doing fun things together in Columbia! We explored the river boardwalk, had some fun meeting nights at Dukes, Kaminskys, jazz nights at Front Coffee and Tap and even went to a really fun dueling piano show in the Senate. We got engaged in my backyard in Lexington on September 4th. We are getting married at Southern Oaks in Gilbert on April 30th.
I grew up in Columbia, but I moved out after college. I came back here in September 2019, after living in Charleston for several years. I never thought I’d meet anyone and fall in love in the city where I grew up. But here we are! ”- Ashley S.
“In 1989, I was working on the 13th floor of the Palmetto Center on Main St. for SCE & G. I continued to see a“ cute guy ”around our building and in the city center. I just knew he worked on the 16th floor… and he was so cute! On Friday, April 14, I got on the elevator and he was the only one to get in! I was so nervous !! We started talking, we continued the conversation for about 15 minutes, we had our first meeting right away and we got married 15 months later at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church on Tram Road! #LoveInAnElevator ”- Allen A.
“My boyfriend, Mike, and I met in 2016, working at Village Idiot. We both graduated from USC a few years apart. He played football for the Gamecocks while I watched from the student section, not knowing who he was. Our paths crossed throwing pizza and drinks at 5 points. He was a bartender and I was a waitress. We started dating after being friends for about a year.
2 years later, we both moved out of Columbia for a few years. He moved to Houston, TX and I moved to Chicago, IL – I know we are crazy! I did the whole long distance thing and decided there was no place like home, so we both moved back to Midlands and we couldn’t be happier. Thank Village Idiot and Columbia for bringing us together! ”- Carilee C.