How do you celebrate your love in the most Toronto way possible? This couple has an idea or two

This relationship has always been a party of three: Nat Cooper, Jesse Abramson … and Toronto.

Over the years, their love has grown, for each other and for the city where they’ve had so many adventures. Their journey as a couple may have started in 2011 with a first date at Insomnia in the Annex, but over the last 12 years, Cooper, a product designer, and Abramson, a software developer, have lived in many neighbourhoods downtown: Yonge and Eglinton, the Annex, Yonge and Dundas and King and Spadina. Finally, they ended up in their current home on Queen West, which they share with kitty Izzy and Italian Greyhound Bean. While they identify as homebodies who love playing video games and watching TV together, they say Toronto has played an important role in their relationship. “From the first time we held hands on the streetcar,” Cooper says, “to New Years at the ROM.”

They’ve taken cooking classes at George Brown and are members of the city’s tech community, studying at the HackerYou bootcamp at Queen and Spadina and teaching local kids how to code through Canada Learning Code. They take bikes rides through Trillium Park and Ontario Place, where they take photos and reminisce about their childhoods there. “We’ve gone on cycling adventures through the Beltline trail, Harbourfront, Cedarvale, and the island,” Abramson says. “We love how accessible Toronto is for natural outings.”

When it comes to date night, they generally stay close to home, on Ossington, often sipping a Jelly King at Bellwoods Brewery. “If we’re lazy and we haven’t made reservations, then we’ll grab a picnic blanket, order take-out and go have a spontaneous picnic dinner date in Trinity Bellwoods,” Cooper says. “Even after travelling to other cities on vacations, nothing seems to compare to home.”

And even when it comes to taking holidays, more often than not they stay in the city. “We love staycations. Every summer we try to take at least two weeks off to just … stay here. Lots of people leave during the summer and head up north, but we think the summer is probably the best time to be in the city!” Abramson says. “The days are longer and warmer so you can get outside and really appreciate what Toronto has to offer.”

Another key Toronto tradition? Every year, they celebrate their anniversary with a pilgrimage to one of the GTA’s few remaining photo booths to capture their love. The first one came about when they were taking the subway home from their one-year anniversary date in February 2012 at Insomnia, where they met. “While waiting for the train at Bloor station, perhaps encouraged by some drinks over dinner, we spontaneously took photos together,” Abramson says.

But once year two rolled around, the photo booth was out of service. And the hunt for other photo booths began, and the pair saw it as just another way to explore more of the city in the course of their quest. “Once the subway photo booths shut down, we started travelling all over Toronto to find photo booths. We really caught the end of an era, with colour film photo booths disappearing just years after we met. It became harder and harder to find them,” Cooper says. One year, they took a taxi all the way to Dufferin Mall.

Eventually they found out there was one at the Drake Hotel and that is now their current go-to. “Going back to the Drake every year is a treat because Queen West has been changing and improving so much over the last few years,” Abramson says. “But the Drake Hotel itself is timeless and seems to stay the same — well, the old part of the hotel, anyway.” “It was so cool to get a room at the hotel for our 10th anniversary. It felt like we were staying in a little part of Toronto history.”

Their favourite photo booth outing: the city was still under strict COVID restrictions so they weren’t sure if the hotel’s photo booth would be available. They even brought a Polaroid camera as a contingency plan. “But we got lucky and the staff at the hotel turned the photo booth on just for us!” Cooper says. “Our tradition continued, and we also had the place all to ourselves.”

The latest photo booth session from February 2023 is also very meaningful for the couple: “By then we had decided that we wanted to get our marriage licence,” Abramson says, but they hadn’t told anyone yet. “Having a secret together is so romantic. You can tell by our kiss in the 12-year photo booth photos how passionate the night was for us.”

They keep all their photos in a Tupperware box, along with memories of their decade-plus together, from tickets and souvenirs to Polaroid photos and cards.

Soon, they’ll have even more memories to add to their box: they got married Saturday at City Hall, the perfect spot for the wedding of two die-hard Toronto enthusiasts.

And how did they get around on their wedding day? “Toronto was really a main character in our love story,” Cooper says, “so it only made sense that we took the TTC to City Hall to tie the knot.”