Rob Nikiforuk and Dani Doucette.
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Who: Dani Doucette, 34, model and musician; Rob Nikiforuk, 45, sales rep
Relationship status: Together since 2011
Location: Toronto
A film-festival flirtation led these two from monogamy bashers to happily ever after in just one night.
A model romance
Dani: Eight years ago, I was walking in a runway show at a TIFF event. I didn’t know the city, so when I was done, I called a friend to see if she wanted to go out. She wasn’t available but texted to say she knew someone who would love to take me out.
Rob: I was also working TIFF as a security guard. I had just spent three days on detail for Clive Owen. I dropped him off at the airport and when I called in to say the job was done, the publicist who I was friendly with asked me about taking Dani out.
Dani: Our first conversation was like the kind of talking you do with someone you’ve known for decades. We both drank ld fashioneds and at the end of the night we got locked out on the rooftop of the Roosevelt Room.
Rob: We’re both kind of swervey. I accidentally head butted her while attempting a kiss and then I told her I was going to marry her.
Dani: Which was funny because we’d spent the whole night talking about how we didn’t believe in monogamy.
Bean there, done that
Rob: I admit I was a little apprehensive. I had some expectations about what dating a model might be like: a lot of demands, a lot of headaches, not a lot of carbs.
Dani: Haha! Even though that is totally not who I am. Modelling has been a great way to pay the bills, but my real passion has always been music.
Rob: After our first couple of dates, she took me to this farm property she was renting where she was growing her own vegetables. What sealed the deal for me was when she kneeled down in the dirt and picked a bean that she had grown and fed it to me.
Dani: Literally down to earth!
Lifetimes together
Dani: A psychic told us, you guys have been together in many lifetimes before, which makes sense. We’ve been in a relationship for eight years and we’ve never had an argument. Maybe that was learned through other times together.
Rob: I’m not so sure about psychics and that kind of thing, but I do feel that sense of fate. Before we met, I’d gone through a rough decade personally. I made a concise and concerted effort to surround myself with positive energy. I even got a Gaelic tattoo that said “Happy Life.” And then a couple of months later, I met my soulmate.