We’ve all had them, those first dates that remain fixtures in our memories forever, reminding us of a time when we felt giddy, nervous, excited and sexy all at once.
There’s something so terrifying about stepping into the unknown, meeting a person you might fall in love with for the first time. Sometimes they turn out awful. Sometimes they’re magical. Sometimes they’re a one-off, even if you had a piercing connection.
We asked the 15 people to tell us to sum up their favourite date in a sentence. This is what they said.
Isabella: “Martinis, shoestring fries and head.”
Anucia: “A surprise sunshine-y day at the zoo.”
Kim: “We cried holding hands in the cinema to The Fault in Our Stars.”
Adam: “Wine but no dine, the sex was divine.”
Elle: “Rode on his motorbike along the coast, then went back to his and got Uber Eats and watched movies.”
Maddi: “He cooked homemade sausage rolls and chutney for a picnic in the park; we made out for hours… my family thought I’d been abducted.”
Nevin: “Drinking Villa Maria on a South Fremantle beach; we laid out cheap beach towels and got a bit tipsy and watched the sun set, I thought it was so f**king posh and cool, and then we went home, had sex and here we are married, six years later.”
Georgie: “Got flown to Japan by a guy I met watching the sun set over Santa Monica beach.”
Angela: “Billy Connelly live, with a handsome Scotsman I ended up marrying and we’re still laughing two sons later.”
Grace: “Beach picnic during a thunderstorm.”
Beth: “Bangkok, mojitos, chemistry!”
Laura (yep, that’s me): “Dressed up in furs, went to the opera, had late-night Chinese and many bottles of champagne.”
Caitlyn: “Met a boy (now my bf) at a park during peak lockdown, but my family just thought I’d gone for a walk and called me approx 47 times mid-date ’cause they didn’t know where I was. Worth it, though.”
Eleanor: “He’d been day drinking and bought me five Cherry Ripes as a gift… they were my fave chocolate bar at the time but he bought me so many that I can’t eat them anymore.”
Sam: “Locked eyes at a bar and didn’t stop making out for hours.”