A loved-up couple who moved in together just three weeks after first meeting due to lockdown are still going strong nine months on – and are now even talking about MARRIAGE.
Sammy-Jo Nelder, 34, and Jordan Amos, 37, met up for their first date on March 1 – just three weeks before Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the first Covid-19 national lockdown.
And despite having only met less than a month previously, Jordan asked Sammy-Jo to lockdown with him in his flat.
Sammy-Jo, a cruise travel agent, took a chance – and now, just eight-and-a-half months on, they have both given up their respective flats and moved in to their own place.
And the couple, whose relationship has flourished during the Covid-19 pandemic and two national lockdowns, have even talked about marriage and starting a family together.
Sammy-Jo, who now lives in Manningtree, Essex, with beau Jordan, said: “We’re madly in love and so glad that we have got each other, during such a rough time.
“It may sound crazy to some people, but it just works. We definitely don’t regret it.
“Jordan made a good point that we have probably spent more time together during the last eight months than most married couples do in the same period in ‘normal’ times, what with having to go to work during the day.
“We’re very happy and the honeymoon period still hasn’t fizzled out, despite the stresses of the pandemic.
“It sounds really cheesy, but it just feels like things are going to be like this forever.
“At least something good came out of this pandemic.”
Sammy-Jo first met up with air conditioning engineer Jordan at the beginning of March – after having matched on dating app Tinder last year.
She said: “We had actually been exchanging texts for a little while after matching on Tinder, and kept meaning to meet up.
“But life kept getting in the way, and I kept putting it on the back burner.
“Then earlier this year I read a book called ‘The Year of Yes’, which was all about saying yes to every opportunity that comes your way.
“I realised the only thing that I had kept putting off in 2019 was meeting up with Jordan.
“I got back in touch with him and said, ‘Shall we give it a go?'”.
The couple’s first date was at The Crown pub in Ardleigh, Essex, where they met in the morning for a cup of coffee – which then turned into a “couple of drinks”.
Sammy-Jo said: “I didn’t want it to end. Sometimes you have those dates where you just can’t wait to get out of there – but this was the exact opposite of that.
“We met up six or seven more times over the next few weeks before lockdown was announced, and then the weekend just before lockdown we spent the whole weekend together.”
She added that, on the day the Prime Minister announced the Covid lockdown, Jordan was at her flat in Ipswich, Suffolk.
She said: “I had been given a laptop to start working from homre that week, and Jordan had come over to help me set it up.
“Then the announcement came on the TV, and Jordan said, ‘Let’s just unplug everything here and you can come and stay at mine’.
“I umm’ed and ahh’ed about it, but though, ‘Let’s give it a chance’.”
Sammy-Jo spent just over two months staying at Jordan’s flat in Colchester, Essex, before the pair both gave up their tenancies and committed to renting a place together in Manningtree in June.
And a loved-up Sammy-Jo said that she and Jordan have spoken about buying a house together when things are a bit more normal – and have even talked about marriage and starting a family.
She said: “He’s said he’d like to marry me – and I do feel the same.
“Jordan’s very kind. We’ve got the same sense of humour and are on the same wavelength.
“It’s crazy how quickly things have happened, but now I can’t imagine life before him.
“People may think we’ve rushed into it, but we don’t feel that way. I’ve never felt this way before.”