Simon and Christian Savidge met in 2011 and live in Wirral. Simon, 37, works for Liverpool library services and has a books blog and YouTube channel . Christian, 47, works in operations for John Lewis

Simon and Christian met on Twitter eight years ago. In his profile, Simon had written that he liked “books, beards and cheese”. “I sent him a message saying: ‘I work in cheese’,” Christian recalls, “because at the time I was working for a dairy.” They both laugh. He also had a beard. But, Simon points out, “He didn’t mention the fact he didn’t really like books.”

Both were single and had turned to Twitter to try to meet someone. They liked that it wasn’t a dating platform. “So you don’t have an expectation,” says Christian. “We were just two people chatting and getting to know each other.”

They exchanged messages for a few days, then spoke on the phone. A couple of weeks later they met – Simon was moving house and Christian had offered to help move some bookshelves into storage. “He turned up on the Saturday,” deadpans Simon, “with a Mini.” Against all the odds, the bookshelves did fit.

They had arranged to meet near where Simon was living in Heaton Chapel, near Stockport. Christian, who had driven over from Liverpool, saw him coming down the road, crossed over to meet him, and they happened to meet, romantically, outside the fishmonger’s. “Every time we drive past now we’re like: ‘Ah, that’s where we met,’” says Christian.

Was it awkward? No, says Simon, “I think because I’d gauged his personality because of Twitter, and we’d both put possibly not very recent photos, but recent enough. It wasn’t like seeing someone you’re not expecting to see.” “It was just like meeting a person I felt I knew already,” says Christian.

What did they like about each other? “It was just that he made me laugh, and he had a cheeky glint in his eye,” says Simon. Christian says: “I loved his face, and his personality fitted his face because he was as nice as he looked.” When did they realise they wanted to be together? “I think it was really early on,” says Simon. Christian agrees: “For me it was. People talk about love at first sight. I knew, as soon as I met him, that he was the person I hoped he would be, and that was quite lovely.”

Christian had told Simon he might as well store his boxes of books at his house. “He did say quite confidently: ‘You’re going to live here eventually,’” says Simon. “I was, like, am I? But actually, we did move in together quite quickly.”

About three or four months later, Christian was having his tonsils out and Simon moved in to look after him. “And I didn’t leave,” he says. That’s quite intimate – to look after someone when they’re ill. “It was,” says Christian, who adds that he is a “terrible patient”. “And his tonsil wounds reopened,” Simon recalls, “which is something to wake up to when you’ve only been with someone a few months and they’ve got blood pouring out of their mouth. It also meant I got to meet his mum and dad quite quickly, at the hospital.”

Simon says he knew Christian was serious about their relationship when he half-jokingly sent him a screen-grabbed picture of a kitten he had seen on a listings site with a message saying: “He’s called Oscar and I think he wants to come and live with us.”

“It was late and Chris hadn’t come home, and I was getting annoyed,” says Simon. “He phoned me, and I was possibly a bit off with him. He said: ‘Simon, shush, listen.’ The cat was in the car.” Christian had stopped at a pet shop and bought a cat basket and food, then picked the kitten up after work. “He was reduced,” he says with a laugh. “I came home with a kitten, and we were a little family.” A risky purchase. “In hindsight I could have thought: ‘Was that a little bit quick?’,” says Simon, “but it wasn’t because now we’re married and we’re really happy.” And they have another cat.

They got married last year and are now doing up a house together. It has a library for Simon’s books. And a cheese room? “No, I no longer work in cheese,” says Christian. Simon smiles and says: “Which is a slight sore point, but has not been too much of an issue.”

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