Tweeter, I married him–a new romantic classic
Book-lover tracks down and weds the anonymous social media humourist who stole her heart
IT IS the final line to one of the greatest love stories in English literature. But it seems Jane Eyre’s “Reader, I married him” can be applied to even the most modern of romances.
A book-lover who declared her affection for the man behind an anonymous Twitter account has disclosed that the pair have tied the knot, four years after she attempted to entice him online with a well-timed tweet.
Victoria and Jonathan O’Brien married last week among friends and family, seeing their heartwarming story go viral yesterday after they shared a photograph of the occasion and an intriguing glimpse of its origins.
Their romance began with a corporate Twitter account for Waterstones Oxford Street, which social media manager Mr O’Brien was in charge of running.
The account quickly gained a following for its off-beat humorous messages, with the then-Victoria Carlin declaring in 2012: “Well I’m in love with whoever is manning the @WstonesOxfordSt account. Be still my actual beating heart.”
Mr O’Brien, who had received many such approving messages in his guise as the bookshop replied modestly, writing: “Pff, he’s not that dreamy in real life”.
“Book nerds = dreamboats,” Victoria told him firmly, before the pair went their separate online ways.
Relaying the conversation to a friend, data analyst Miss Carlin was offered a bet: to win a date with the man behind Waterstones Oxford Street within two weeks.
But despite her efforts, she failed to meet the time limit, later messaging another fan of the account with a typo that would change her life.
Instead of chatting about her wouldbe date with the Waterstones account manager – a still imaginary future prospect – Miss Carlin accidentally sent a cheery message describing how they had been for a gin together.
Intrigued, Mr O’Brien, who at the time was seeing someone else, then got in touch from his personal account to clarify what had and had not happened.
The pair struck up a conversation, which progressed to Victoria taking doughnuts as a gift to the Waterstones store.
After a first date at a cocktail bar, the couple embarked on a relationship and, two-and-a-half years on, Mr O’Brien proposed at their London flat last year.
The couple married at Islington Town Hall, with a reception at a Stoke Newington pub and a honeymoon in Brighton and Cambridgeshire.
Yesterday, the new Mrs O’Brien shared the happy ending with her Twitter followers: a screenshot of her first tweet, a photograph from their wedding, and the words “Dear reader, I married him.”
“It’s been very odd being on the other side of the story,” admitted Mr O’Brien, who is now a social media manager for Innocent, the smoothie business. “It’s weird being the one who’s going viral. A lot of people have got in touch, saying that it’s nice to see a lovely story. It seems to have snowballed a bit.”
The wedding announcement now has 27,000 likes and 8,000 retweets.