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A wrong text that led to love

Sue Carr
28/ 2/2007

CUPID stopped at nothing to get the message across to Emma and Pat Nottage.

For the lovebirds, now married with two children, got together when Pat mistakenly texted Emma's mobile phone.

The unlikely love story won our Valentine's Day competition, run with Cullen's Florists in Ashton, to discover the most unusual way a couple had met.

Emma was at work when she got a message from a number she didn't recognise and, curious, replied to ask who it was.

The 32 year old, from Ashton, and Pat, 34, who lived in London, then spent the next month getting to know each other via text.

Constant texting led to telephone calls - but big phone bills were a small price to pay when the couple finally met.

"The first conversation, we were on the phone for most of the night - we just really hit it off," said Emma.

"We talked every night for two weeks before he came up, but he got lost so the first time we met was in Sainsbury's car park in Ashton.

"Every time I go to Sainsbury's I remember it. I just saw him and I knew he was the one for me."

Pat moved to Ashton within a few weeks and the 'soulmates' married two years later in October 2004. Turning again to his trusty phone, Pat proposed on the air during a friend's radio show.

The couple now have two children - three-year-old Chloe and seven-week-old Kyle.

"A lot of people don't believe us when we tell them how we met," said Pat.

"It is surreal - you never think something like that would actually happen, but it did and I wouldn't change things for the world."

Emma added: "It does sound barmy but it's just one of those real-life stories that don't happen to many people."