We fell in love AT A FUNERAL!
Their sweet Thit romance had a tragic start
Alex and Jay Coates are proof longdistance love really can last. The husband and wife were living a 15-hour flight apart when they met online in 2004. For two years they messaged and videocalled across countless hours, before Wellingtonbased Alex courageously flew to see her man in Dallas, Texas.
“At first I was looking for a friend to keep me company, someone who would accept me as
I am and whose ‘weird’ complemented mine,” laughs personal assistant Alex, 34. “I ended up finding that and more.”
But Alex wanted to make sure there was chemistry with Jay, 37, who is studying early childhood education, saying, “I had to see if the feelings were genuine or not.
We had great conversations and he was very open, but there’s something different about meeting a person face to face and getting to know them that way.”
Seeing his future wife walk through the arrival gates was a relief for a nervous Jay.
He tells, “I really liked Alex’s smile, so it was good to be able to finally see that in person.”
Tragically, before the couple even had their first date, Jay’s beloved grandfather died. Alex stuck by him through a four-hour car ride to his hometown Chandler, where she had no choice but to meet his entire family.
“It was probably getting to talk to them about Jay that really solidified I wanted to be with him,” she admits.
On a second visit in August 2006, the two got engaged as they sat on the hood of Jay’s car, listening to music and watching a thunderstorm.
A month before their Kiwi wedding in March 2008, Jay moved to Aotearoa. After three-and-a-half years trying for children, the delighted pair finally welcomed baby daughter Audrey last January.
“Your love story is your own,” declares Alex. “If that involves meeting in a chatroom from different sides of the world, so what?!”