"Hi, yeah, I'm Michael - but forget about me, because I'm off to South Africa next week"
That's literally the first thing we said to each other in 2013. We met in the office on Aoife's first day, just as Michael finally got his visa. Preoccupied by meeting a whole load of new colleagues, or by a simmering frustration with South African bureaucracy, neither of us thought anything of it.
Fast-forward to 2016: Kantar offices on Grays Inn Road - both of us now back living in London. We're where all good romances start: a strategy workshop. Each of us losing the will to live a little, Aoife begins the immortal sentence:
"If I could compare this project to any kind of biscuit...it'd be a Party Ring"
And the rest is history.
We may no longer be colleagues, but we haven't changed doing what brought us together in the office in the first place: cheese, Father Ted lines, and living vicariously through other people's dogs.
"Well...is it yes?!"
Don't say Michael isn't romantic. Route-march Aoife up a 6,000 ft hill, scrambling over rocks and ice, avoiding snow drifts and tripping over groups of over-ambitious tourists - build up a healthy sweat and then...pop the question.
To his credit, Nevada Falls in Yosemite are breathtaking, and the hike was definitely worth it. But all that climbing had taken its toll on our hero, so he wasn't able to go down on one knee. Aoife was shocked in silence for an agonising minute, but finally put the poor guy out of his misery, and 14 months later, here we are.
"In London, everyone is different, and that means anyone can fit in" Paddington Bear
We're really excited to show you a part of London that's very special to us: we used to live a walk away in Shadwell, and we spent lots of our weekends in and around Shoreditch and Spitalfields Market.
Where the old financial quarter meets hipster hotspot - think neck ties meet neck tattoos; interest rates and bars open late. It's a mix of the old and the new: William the Conquerer, Samuel Pepys and Jack the Ripper (allegedly) all used to call the area home - now it's a melting pot of modern London with artists, bankers, celebrities, and until last year, us!
“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” C.S. Lewis
Bringing all our friends and family together is going to be one hell of a party. And whether you're coming from down the road, or from the other side of the world, we can't wait to see you, and for you to meet each other.
Hopefully with lots of opportunity for you to meet friends old and new across Friday, Saturday and Sunday, you'll have a huge amount of fun - but if you're looking to make a game of it, see if you can complete the checklist:
1. A prison officer
2. An archivist for Eton College
3. A supplier of art to the rich and famous
4. A country singer
5. A superstar DJ
6. Is flying 11,000 miles to join us
7. Appeared in Game of Thrones
8. Has run the length of every Tube line
9. Gets mistaken for Ben Stokes
10. Has a scar on his nose from annoying the family dog