London Love Stories: Frances and Callum Cottrell-Duffield

'I bought her a drink then danced topless to Baywatch'

Jobs: MD of Tonic PR and Commercial Head of Naturals at Bio-bean

Ages: Frances is 36, Callum is 35

Live: Streatham

Length of time together: Nine years

Status: Married

The meet-cute

Frances: Callum played rugby with childhood friends of mine. He asked me out six times: he kept asking me out for coffee, which I thought sounded boring, hence me not agreeing to meet for so long.

The chat-up line

Callum: I bought Frances a drink in a club, Chicago’s in Epsom. I proceeded to dance topless to Baywatch and then drank half her drink upon my return from the dance floor.

First impressions

Frances: Callum was very tall, very handsome and played rugby — totally my type on paper. My friends liked that he could carry four bottles of wine in each hand. Mum loved that he took over cooking the barbecue (which we now have to call a braai) at family parties.

Moving in

Callum: We moved in together in 2013, when I moved back from South Africa. It went well, although I still miss my Sunday evenings. When we lived apart we would spend all weekend together but Sunday evening was my time to watch sport and terrible TV alone. It was a bit of personal time which ceased to exist when we moved in.

Popping the question

Frances: Callum proposed — both times. The first time was in Spuntino in Soho, which was fun and exciting and a bit silly. The second time, in my old flat, was the proper, grown-up one. Callum got down on one knee. We’d already booked the wedding venue.

The big day

Callum: We got married in an old lighthouse at Trinity Buoy Wharf in east London. Frances wore a dramatic black-and-white gown and I wore a tuxedo. The weather was perfect and we even had clipper ships come sailing past. I had to wing my speech as the registrar nicked it when he left.

Date nights

Frances: We still love Soho for a night out, though now we’re parents we don’t really get to go out on dates these days. Having a glass of wine in the garden can still feel pretty special.

Pet names

Frances: I call Callum “Ceebs”.

Next steps

Frances: We’ve just had our second baby, a boy called Henry, who was born at home. I’m probably going to spend the next 20 years convincing Callum that we need to stay living in London and not relocate to a farm.

❤To tell your love story, email londonlovestories@standard.co.uk

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in