When Steph and Andy Callen met at a 鈥榖ack to school鈥� themed student night in their final year, Andy had a fool-proof way of ensuring that Steph didn鈥檛 forget his number. While everyone else was signing each other鈥檚 shirts in the style of the last day at school, Andy took the chance to write his telephone number on Steph鈥檚 arm in what turned out to be permanent marker. Steph says: 鈥淚t took three days to scrub it off so I think he knew what he was doing!鈥�
From that night on the couple barely spent a day without texting or seeing each other. Steph recalls their first official date at Cactus (now Buffalo) in Winton 鈥� which was right in between their two student houses 鈥� and another early date playing crazy golf in the Lower Gardens. As they got to know each other it turned out that they had spent much of their time at university attending the same house parties and hanging out with the same friends, but had never got as far as meeting.
As they approached graduation, Steph got a job as a local newspaper journalist in Bury St Edmonds and the couple moved to Suffolk before eventually settling in Norfolk. Steph says: 鈥淲e married in 2011 and have been lucky enough to buy our own home and travel to some amazing places. We celebrated 10 years of being together by travelling in India. We also managed to incorporate a trip back to Bournemouth and had another game of crazy golf in honour of our early dates. Bournemouth and the friends we made there, have a special place in our hearts. One of Andy鈥檚 housemates, who was on my course and introduced us on that first night out, was an usher at our wedding and Andy returned the favour when he got married this year. He鈥檚 demanding a finder鈥檚 fee!鈥�