Paul Foster and Giannis Sporidis already have their Halloween plans set.
The couple will tie the knot Oct. 31, in a masquerade-themed wedding at Sheraton Bucks County.
The pair met online and had their first date Jan. 11, 2013.
“I kind of knew right away that he was the one,” Foster, 27, said.
“You can definitely say it was love at first sight,” added Sporidis, 34. “It was one of those dates you just don’t want to end.”
Foster, a community-health educator and program director at Drexel Medicine, and Sporidis, a kindergarten teacher, moved in together about six months later.
Sporidis is a native of Greece, and Foster noted his sense of humor transcends both cultures.
“It’s a real skill to understand humor and sarcasm from another language than the one you were born into, but he gets American humor so well,” Foster said. “He always has a way to make me laugh.”
Sporidis said he was taken by Foster’s maturity and their shared values, such as being family-oriented.
Foster added that the couple has learned how to successfully navigate differences.
“We really work through any issues together so well,” Foster said. “Even if we have an argument, it’s always respectful and we work through it; we don’t walk away.”
The couple bought a house last year in South Philadelphia and Foster used the occasion to suggest a celebratory dinner — to cover up his plan to propose. But the Sept. 19 proposal didn’t go quite as planned.
“We went to dinner and he had Chinese food that was extremely spicy so he was guzzling water and sweating and choking. It wasn’t cute at all,” Foster laughed. “So I was going to wait and take him to Spruce Street Harbor Park after, and I thought it would be super romantic to propose in one of the hammocks there. But he wasn’t feeling well and wanted to go home. So I actually just waited until we got home — and then he dropped the ring into the carpet! I was crawling around looking for it, so it ended up that I was on one knee anyway when I found the ring, which was cute.”
“I was surprised, but very pleasantly surprised,” Sporidis said.
Sporidis has guests coming in from Greece for the wedding, and said they’re both looking forward to celebrating with their family and friends.
“We both love Halloween, so it’ll be like a big Halloween party,” he said. “It’s just going to be a lot of fun. I can’t wait; I just love him very much.”