Tosin & Kieron

They say timing is everything — and in October 2020, timing was, well, complicated. Lockdowns meant dating looked a lot different, but that didn’t stop sparks from flying between Tosin and Kieron.

When they first matched on Bumble, Tosin thought, “Let’s see what happens. It might be a bit of fun.” But as they started chatting, she quickly realized just how funny Kieron was.

Then life got busy, and their conversation drifted. Three weeks later, Tosin opened Bumble, delighted to see that Kieron hadn’t unmatched. She broke the silence with a simple question: “Do you want to go for a walk later?” Kieron said yes.

What was meant to be a quick meetup turned into hot chocolate at Butler’s Chocolate Café and a three-hour walk. “I was surprised by how well we got on together,” Kieron recalls. “It was really easy to just settle into meeting each other for the first time.” Once the date was over, Kieron immediately messaged Tosin asking for a second one.

The 10-Hour Second Date

With restaurants and bars still closed due to lockdown, Tosin invited Kieron to her apartment for their second date. When he arrived, she pulled out The New York Times’ “36 Questions That Lead to Love,” a game designed to accelerate closeness through shared vulnerability.

“These were deep questions,” Kieron says. “Like, peel back the layers, let's really do this.”

What started as curiosity turned into 10 hours of sharing stories and opening up in ways most people don’t in the first few weeks of dating. Thirty-six questions later, there was no denying their connection had shifted into something more.

“After that, we just hung out all the time,” Tosin says. “He was always over every weekend.” A year later, they made it official and moved in together.

Two Weddings, Two Cultures, One Love

One year after moving in together, Kieron proposed in Venice, and Tosin said yes. That “yes” would turn into two unforgettable celebrations — first with a Yoruba traditional Nigerian wedding in Atlanta around Christmas 2022, and then with a white dress and tuxedo ceremony in Portugal in June 2023.

The Nigerian celebration was steeped in tradition. Tosin and Kieron wore custom-made attire. He danced in with her family behind him, knelt to ask her parents for permission to take her into his family, and brought a dowry filled with gifts.

“There was so much joy,” Tosin says. “Money spraying is a very common thing in Nigerian tradition — you just kind of spray [$1 bills] on each other. It was amazing.”

Their Portugal ceremony was more intimate — just 45 guests gathered to watch them exchange vows overlooking the coast. “It was fun to have all of our favorite people together in Portugal to celebrate us in a different way as well,” says Tosin.

Love, Laughter, and the Long Haul

What defines their relationship is a sense of partnership — the certainty that no matter what life brings, they can face it together. “When one of us is having a bad day, the other one’s probably picking up some of the slack. We’re looking after each other because it’s us against everything, as opposed to us against each other,” Tosin says.

By the time Kieron came along, she finally felt ready for that kind of partnership. “A lot of personal growth coming into 2020 helped me be energetically where I needed to be to meet someone like him,” she says. “I didn’t like the idea of waiting for somebody to message me. I’m in charge of my love life here, so I just really always felt empowered by Bumble.”

When asked what they admire about the other, Tosin speaks to Kieron’s patience and kindness, qualities that steady her energy. She also says, “He’s the kindest person you’ll ever meet. He looks after everybody.”

Kieron calls Tosin the “perfect person,” adding, “If I had to be a better person, I would model myself after my wife. The amount of empathy that she has for people, her ability to read situations, and give advice is unmatched. She’s amazing.”

Who would have thought that during a year of distancing, meeting on Bumble would be the thing that brought them closer than they ever imagined?