College Sweethearts
It was at college that Ed Savitt’s eyes caught the attention of Heidi Parker. The pair soon turned into sweethearts. They gradually became increasingly serious about each other and decided to move in together.
Looking toward the future, they wanted their families to meet. They had no clue how that encounter and an old photo album would later prove that this love story was not exactly what it seemed.
New Life In Newcastle
Instagram/ Heidi Alice
Heidi Parker, like many teenagers, was eager and ready to commence the next chapter in her life. She began the process of applying to colleges where she ultimately chose to attend Newcastle University in England.
Heidi was close to her family. In fact, she considered her mother to be one of her best friends. But it was time for a change. She never would have guessed that her new living situation would lead her to meet the love of her life, and, later, to discover a truly jaw-dropping revelation about his past through a decades-old photo album.
Not What She Expected
Facebook/ Heidi Alice Savitt
It wasn’t a requirement from Newcastle University for all new students to live on campus but Heidi craved a new experience so she got a spot in one of the student apartments. After a while searching, she found the perfect place. After a little while living with her roommates, she realized that the seemingly perfect home was not exactly what she was looking for.
With a new school year coming up, she realized she wanted to try living alone in an apartment closer to campus. She surfed the Internet for a new home, without knowing that in some way, the hunt would lead to more than just a new living space.
Her New Home
Facebook/ Heidi Alice Savitt
She realized that she could afford to live alone after doing some research and then jumped at the opportunity. There was a cozy studio nearby campus which she settled on. It was then time for her to move out of her old room and into her new home.
On the way out, Heidi met her outgoing home’s new tenants to pass off her keys. She handed the new tenants her keys, flashed them a quick smile, and ran off to start decorating her new apartment. As she drove away, she thought she had put her days in that home behind her. But she would be back sooner than expected.
An Unexpected Message
Instagram/ Heidi Alice
Heidi was settling into her new studio apartment well. Everything was going according to plan, but not for everyone. Back in her old apartment, the new tenants were apparently having some issues. That’s when Heidi received an unexpected message on Facebook from a guy named Ed.
“[Ed] didn’t know how to use the washing machine in the student flat,” Heidi later said in an interview. “He found a post with my name on it, realized I had lived there the year before and decided I could help.” She tried to explain over a Facebook message, but it proved to be unsuccessful. Then, she decided to just go over in person to show him.
Meeting The Man
Instagram/ Heidi Alice
The young woman later admitted there was probably another reason she agreed to go to Ed’s home, saying that it was “basically because he was hot.” She was looking forward to going over to show him how to use the washing machine. She then realized that Ed had apparently also lived with his parents for a little too long.
She showed Ed exactly how the machine worked and waited until he was able to do the whole process himself. It seemed that her work there was done. But just as she was about to leave, he stopped her and said he had something to ask her.
On His Knees
Instagram/ Heidi Alice
Ed found the courage to ask Heidi on a date to a cafe close by. It seemed that Heidi’s washing-machine-related house call paid off, and she had an opportunity to sit down for a cup of coffee with this hot guy.
Even though this was what she wanted, Heidi was a little surprised when he actually asked. “I thought he was gorgeous, I thought he was actually amazing,” Heidi said. “All I can remember thinking is ‘wow, he is hot.” On their coffee date, Heidi quickly learned that she was attracted to more than just his looks.
The Beginning Of Their Story
Facebook/ Heidi Alice Savitt
Heidi learned that the new tenant of her old apartment was named Ed Savitt, and he was also attending Newcastle University to study business and psychology. They both had plans for their individual futures but on this particular day, after Heidi caught Ed’s eye, their entire college experience changed.
Heidi would later say that the two “hit it off pretty much instantly.” They became much closer and manage to stay together throughout college. The college sweethearts thought they knew everything about each other, but they would soon find out they were wrong.
Post Grads
Facebook/ Heidi Alice Savitt
College life was coming to an end and they needed to figure out their post-graduate lives together. Then they agreed that they’d move to London, but still live separately. Heidi had a high-powered PR job while Ed was focused on opening a coffee shop on the south side of town.
Eventually, the couple decided to move in together. After that, things started moving quickly and progressively got more serious. They reached that point where they thought it was time to finally have their families meet each other. They knew the meeting would be a big step in their relationship, but they had no idea just how big of a turning point it would have.
Mothers’ Meet
Instagram/ Alice Heidi
Four years since they started dating, Heidi and Ed decided it was time for their mothers to meet, so they set up a date and time for it. But just because it was the right time did not mean that neither of them were nervous. Introducing two families can be intimidating, and they had no idea that this wouldn’t be any ordinary family introduction.
In order to eradicate the nerves, they did everything they could to have it run smoothly. They picked their favorite restaurant and made a dinner reservation. When the big day arrived, Ed’s mother, Fiona, and Heidi’s mother, Kay, joined them for the meeting. The two mothers hit it off pretty quickly as they started exchanging stories. But there was one story, in particular, that would stand out to everyone for a shocking reason.
Old Tales
Instagram/ Heidi Alice
During dinner, Ed and Heidi’s mothers exchanged pleasantries and spoke of many of the typical subjects that new acquaintances share. Coincidentally, or so it seemed, the more the two women share, the more they realized how similar their families were to one another.
Both families loved to sail, and often planned vacations around their shared passion. They had both traveled along the Mediterranean on holidays with the whole family. Ultimately, both mothers were happy that their children had invited them to this meal, but neither had any idea that their children had not informed them of one major piece of information.
The Announcement
Facebook/ Ed Savitt
Everything seemed to be going well as the mothers chatted back and forth but there were still some nerves lingering for the couple. That’s because they had a pretty big announcement to make and were extremely anxious about the reaction they may have got.
Ed and Heidi interrupted their mothers’ bonding to tell them the exciting news, they were going to get married! As anyone could imagine, Kay and Fiona could barely contain their excitement. But still, somehow, the engagement would still not be the most incredible revelation shared about the couple.
The Change In Their Story
Instagram/ Heidi Alice
Both of the mothers could not believe it. Their babies were getting married! The stories about their childhood kept coming and Heidi’s mom, Kay, decided that all this love made her want to share one of her favorite vacation stories: when Heidi met her first boyfriend.
Kay explained that when Heidi was six years old, they took a trip to Turkey. She’d met a little boy and would not leave his side, spending the entire vacation holding hands. She quickly changed the subject after feeling a little awkward. Little did they know at the time, though, how that seemingly innocuous account mentioned in passing would come back to change the course of Ed and Heidi’s relationship.
Lingering Thoughts
Instagram/ Heidi Alice
The conversation between the couple and their mothers quickly changed to other subjects. Heidi and Ed told their mothers that they had planned to get married by the end of the year.
While the conversation could go on for hours more, they decided to wrap up their dinner. They all felt great with the amount of love the young couple had. But for Heidi’s mother, Kay, there was another overwhelming feeling that she just could not shake.
An Incredible Discovery
Instagram/ Up City Ro
Two weeks passed since Kay had dinner with her daughter and future son-in-law, but she could not stop thinking about the story of Heidi’s childhood friend that she had told during the meal. She moved on anyway and decided to focus on the future. Undoubtedly, there was a lot to focus on with a wedding coming up.
With all of the plans surrounding the upcoming nuptials, Kay figured she would have to clear some space to keep presents and supplies in her attic. She started cleaning up the space but deep down, she was hoping she would find something that she had been thinking about up there. Then, she saw it, sitting in the corner.
Eureka
credits
When Kay saw her old photo albums stacked in the corner of the attic, she knew that she just needed to satisfy her curiosity. She scanned through the dusty stacks of albums and found what she was looking for: an album that said Gumbet, July 1997 on the cover.
Kay hadn’t seen the two-decade-old photo album in a long time. So she couldn’t be quite sure that this photo album would have exactly what she was looking for. But she quickly flipped through the pages, and when she reached the one she was hoping to find, she couldn’t move.
The Little Boy
credits
Kay had been skipping through smiling family photos and beautiful landscape portraits from the trip. She managed to find this particular photo from about 20 years ago that kept haunting her ever since the meeting with Ed and his mother. Right in front of her was her daughter Heidi standing with her first-ever boyfriend.
The blond mystery boy was exactly how she remembered him. He was flashing a shy smile, standing next to Heidi just as they had been for the entire trip. In truth, Kay was looking for this boy for one particular reason. When she saw the little boy in the old photo album, she was speechless and knew right away that her suspicions were likely correct.
Who Could He Be?
Instagram/ Heidi Alice
As Kay looked at the old photo album, she did not know if this was just about the craziest thing she had ever seen, or if she was just going crazy. She was convinced she was correct about her nagging suspicion, but she needed more details.
Kay was pretty certain that this little blond boy, named Ed, was the same Ed that was about to marry her daughter. It was almost too good to be true. The Ed that Kay had just met a few days ago at the London restaurant looked different from the little boy in the old photo album. But she had to make a call.
Suspicions Confirmed
Instagram/ Heidi Alice
Kay thought that the only way to solve this mystery was not to go to her daughter Heidi, but to go to someone who knew Ed when he was just six years old. She immediately turned to her new friend, Fiona. First, she texted Fiona a picture from her old photo album. Could Fiona confirm it?
Fiona and Kay immediately got on the phone with each other. Fiona could barely control herself when she confirmed what Kay already suspected to be true. Heidi’s first boyfriend, Ed, was the same Ed that she was about to marry. But the two knew they couldn’t keep this incredible discovery to themselves.
In Disbelief
Instagram/ Heidi Alice
Kay recalled, “I was screaming, it was just unreal. Of course, I sent it to Fiona.” Fiona was equally surprised by the unexpected revelation. “When Kay sent me the photo of a little boy called Ed I shrieked, ‘oh my goodness, that’s Ed!’ It was unbelievable,” Fiona said.
The two were shocked beyond belief and clearly remembered the vacation in question. Kay went on to explain that “during that two-week holiday, [Ed and Heidi] held hands most of the time.” They knew they had to tell their children and see how they would react.
Coincidence
Turkish Airlines
Kay sent Heidi the photo from her old photo album and called her right away. Heidi remembered in an interview that “When my mum found the first photo of us she sent it to me and I was stunned. I actually had to lie down!”
As for Ed, Heidi said that he “was amazed too. We couldn’t believe it!” Heidi had no memory of the two-week vacation, or that she had met a boyfriend while she was there. But she had to hand it to her younger self, she knew how to pick ’em! And then somehow the story got even more unbelievable.
More Details Revealed
Instagram/ Heidi Alice
Once Kay had alerted Fiona, she could not help herself and had to look through her own photo albums to find more evidence of her son’s first girlfriend and, soon-to-be wife. “Loads more photographs came out. None of us had any idea whatsoever that Heidi and Ed had met before university,” Fiona said in an interview with the Daily Mail.
The photos proved what Kay had said to be true. It was clear that as childhood sweethearts, the two were nearly inseparable. Together, the families found five more photos of the two together on holiday. “We sent it around to our family and friends and everyone was amazed,” Heidi said.
Destiny
Turkish Airlines
Heidi could not help but to think about one thing when she was receiving these photos: fate. She told the Daily Mail that she “didn’t believe in fate before finding that out, but there’s no arguing with it – we are clearly destined to be together.”
Kay thought that maybe there was a “subconscious realization that they had shared that time together when they met as adults.” And with the two set to be married by the end of the year, they knew they had to incorporate this news into their wedding somehow.
The Big Day
Facebook/ Heidi Alice Savitt
Heidi and Ed decided to use these old photos of them as six-year-olds in their wedding invitations. So, the pictures of them from the old photo album were featured on the invites they sent hundreds of guests.
The pair got married in a huge celebration in Derbyshire. They could still say that they had experienced love at first sight, but now they knew that the first sight had happened way before either of them imagined. Heidi and Ed were lucky enough to marry their first love in one of the craziest love stories. But they were not the only two meant for each other that day.
Family
Instagram/ Heidi Alice
Even after the big wedding day, Kay recalled that back in Turkey in 1997, “it was not just Heidi and Ed who met on that holiday, but all of us.” Ed and Heidi’s siblings had all met during that vacation. Some of the pictures their families found in those old photo albums showed all of the siblings hanging out together.
Becoming in-laws bonds two families but after finding out about this unbelievable first meeting, the two families have become even more interconnected. Kay and Fiona have become best friends, along with their husbands. And since Ed and Heidi’s wedding, the two sets of parents have planned vacations together. The couple can still hardly believe it.
A Fairy Tale
Instagram/ Heidi Alice
Heidi and Ed have been married for years but still cannot believe the story behind their first and last love. In an interview, Heidi described her feelings about the entire situation and a story that could have just gone forever unnoticed.
“We had been together for four years when we found out, so it’s mad to think that we might have never known. It’s crazy to think we could have gotten married, shared our lives together, but never found out about this,” Heidi said. “People keep telling us it must be fate, and that it’s like the plot of a movie.”