First impressions count, and for actor and former Ireland AM presenter Simon Delaney, the first time he went on a date with his now wife Lisa didn't go exactly to plan.
The couple recently celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary, and with four growing boys, Lewis, Issac, Elliot, and Cameron in the house, Simon scratches his head, wondering where the time has gone.
Life at home and on the road can be hectic, but the actor has a hidden romantic side to him that he has never lost.
Chatting with EVOKE at the 27th Annual Marie Keating Foundation Celebrity Golf Classic, Simon recalled how the first time he saw Lisa, he was mesmerised by her.
They met when they both auditioned for the same musical, with Simon remembering: 'Lisa walked in and I said, "Holy Moly, who is that?".'
Laughing, Simon remembered how 'a mutual friend and choreographer Siobhan of the show got me by the scruff of the neck' and warned him not to go near her... Simon married Lisa eight years later!
Dating for the couple didn't exactly get off to a smooth start, with the pair getting stranded on Dublin's Northside.
'My brother David that day had borrowed my car, and so I got into the car, and I picked Lisa up and we drove down, when suddenly I ran out of petrol on the coast road,' he said.
Sitting there, absolutely mortified, he said: 'I rang a very good friend of mine, Jim, and he had to come down with a little gallon tank of petrol.'
As embarrassed as he was, this didn't put Lisa off, and with time, Simon showed his true romantic side.
Recalling a big romantic gesture he made, Simon continued: 'Lisa had never been to New York and always wanted to go. At Christmas time, along with a piece of jewellery with her birthstone in it, I had one big Christmas cracker; I think Roches Stores used to do them back in the day. I said pull the cracker, and in the party hat, there were two plane tickets to New York wrapped in a dollar bill.'
Making their way to the Big Apple, Simon had one more surprise in store.
'We went to New York the following February, which was her birthday week, which ran into Valentine's, and we got engaged on Valentine's Day in New York.'
Simon, a side to you we never knew!
