Open this photo in gallery Brent Sherman and Marlo Sutton.

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Who: Brent Sherman, 47, literary agent. Marlo Sutton, 47, personal shopper.

Relationship status: Dating since 2011, married 2017.

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Location: Toronto.

No number, no problem

Marlo: We met seven years ago. A friend had dragged me to the Real Artist Film Festival. I went to say hi to someone I knew and she was talking to Brent. They were having a conversation about internet dating and asked me what I thought. The friend moved away and the two of us had this really great conversation. I remember him looking right into my eyes. And then he excused himself. For the rest of the night I watched him flitting from one group of women to the next. I left feeling sad. I couldn’t believe he didn’t ask for my number.

Brent: I’m not really an ask-for-your-number guy. I pride myself on being resourceful. When I want somebody’s number, I’m confident I can get it. I ended up getting her email.

Meeting mom

Brent: Before we moved in together we would always joke about buying two places next to each other. Or two places in the same building.

Marlo: We were both around 40 when we met and I’m the first woman he’s ever lived with. I remember the first time Brent met my mother, who I am very close with. We were out for dinner with my brother and sister-in-law.

Brent: And Phyllis, her mom, turned to me and said, “So, you’re 41. What’s wrong with you? How come you’ve never been married?” And I paused and then I said, “Because I never wanted an effing mother-in-law.”

Marlo: Everyone went quiet. And then my mom laughed and we all did. It was a classic moment. They have been close ever since.

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The bling’s in the boot

Marlo: A couple of years ago, Brent said he was planning surprise trip. I was thinking Rome, Paris, whatever. And then we get the airport and it’s the part where you have to choose international or domestic and he said domestic. I was thinking okay…

Brent: Flin Flon, Man., is the town my mother was born in. I hadn’t been back in nearly 30 years. It’s a decimated mining community, 500 miles north of Winnipeg. Most Jewish families in Toronto visit their relatives in Florida on the holidays. We went to Flin Flon, where you couldn’t show of inch of flesh without getting frostbite.

Marlo: On our first night there, we went to KFC for dinner. The next day we woke up and he said to sit on the bed because he had something for me.

Brent: I got down on one knee and pulled a box of brand new hiking boots out from under the bed. I said, “Try them on, try them on.” And then the ring was in the boot.

Marlo: We went to Canadian Tire and bought rain ponchos and spent the entire day touring around the town, seeing this place that had so much meaning for him. It was completely miserable outside, but we couldn’t have been more happy.