"So how did you two meet?"
How UK couples find each other
The question every couple gets asked at every wedding, christening and awkward work do. Here's a tour of the most common answers, from swiping right to spilling a pint on someone.
There's no right way to meet the love of your life. Some people meet at seven and marry at thirty; others find each other in their seventies at a bowls club. What we can say is that the mix of ways people meet has changed a lot over the past couple of decades, with online dating growing hugely and more traditional routes becoming a smaller slice of the pie.
Dating apps and websites
Online dating has gone from slightly embarrassing secret to completely normal in a remarkably short time. Surveys over the past decade or so have generally suggested that meeting online is now one of the most common ways new couples in the UK get together, possibly the most common. Figures vary a lot depending on who asked and how, so treat any single headline number with a pinch of salt.
Top tip: Be yourself in your profile, meet somewhere public, and tell a friend where you're going. Never send money to someone you haven't met: romance scams are real, and you can report them to Action Fraud.
Through friends
The classic. A mate says "I know someone you'd get on with", and a few awkward drinks later, here you are. Being introduced by friends has long been one of the most common routes to a relationship, though it seems to have become a little less dominant as apps have grown.
Top tip: Say yes to the birthday drinks, the housewarmings and the pub quiz. Your future other half may be someone's flatmate.
At work
Plenty of couples meet at work, which makes sense given how much of our lives we spend there. From the shared eye-roll in a meeting to the Christmas party, office romance is a long-standing British tradition.
Top tip: Check your employer's policy, keep it professional during work hours, and maybe don't choose the team away-day to go public.
University or college
Halls, societies, seminar groups and the student union bar have introduced many a lifelong couple. Lots of people meet their partner in their late teens or twenties, and uni throws a lot of similar-aged people together.
Top tip: Join the society you're curious about, not the one you think you should. You'll meet people who share your actual interests.
Pubs, bars and clubs
Before the apps, the local was matchmaker-in-chief. Meeting in a pub or bar is still a very British love story, even if these days you might have matched first and met at the pub second.
Top tip: Pub quizzes are brilliant: built-in conversation, a team to belong to, and a chance to show off your knowledge of 1990s chart music.
Festivals and gigs
Muddy wellies, a shared love of a band and an unexpectedly deep conversation in the queue for the loo: festival romance is a thing. Shared taste in music can be a great starting point.
Top tip: Swap numbers before the phone battery dies. Crucial.
On holiday
Two Brits abroad, discovering they live twenty minutes apart. The holiday romance that actually lasts is rarer than the one that doesn't, but when it works, it makes a cracking story.
Top tip: If it feels real, make a plan to meet back home. Seeing each other on a grey Tuesday in Stockport is the real test.
Hobbies, clubs and sport
Running clubs, choirs, climbing walls, five-a-side, amateur dramatics, the allotment: doing something you love means meeting people who love it too.
Top tip: Pick something you'd enjoy even if you never met anyone. Romance tends to follow enthusiasm.
And the ones we couldn't categorise
Wrong number. Stuck in a lift. Sat next to each other on a delayed train out of Paddington for four hours. Rescued the same cat. The best love stories often come from the weird ones, and we would genuinely love to hear yours.