Cork couples tell us how they are spending Valentine’s Day

It was New Year’s Eve and love was in the air all around them.

“I can still remember that night vividly when I set eyes on Andrzey,” says Marcin Moneta, speaking about meeting his husband of nine years.

“It was one of those moments.”

The Polish couple live in Cloyne, and own and run Toastie on Main Street, Midleton, offering sweet treats, coffee, and delicious lunch and dinner options.

“Valentine’s Day is special for us this year,” says Marcin. “It is our first anniversary of Toasties.

“We opened our new business here on Valentine’s Day last year.

“We were so happy and humbled with the support we got from the people of Midleton. They all wished us well.”

They celebrated too.

“We made fresh pancakes and shared them out to everyone who came into us,” says Andrzey Faltyn.

Their customers felt the love.

“The atmosphere here was so beautiful and so special when we opened Toasties.”

“Everyone wished us well, especially after the flooding,” says Marcin.

There was something in the air the night the couple met each other.

“New Year’s Eve is big in Poland,” says Marcin. “I was at a music concert, and I spotted Andrzey dancing on the dance floor.”

Andrzey was displaying his groovy moves.

“He spotted me in the distance, and he waved his arms for me to come and join him,” says Marcin.

The attraction was instant between the couple, who have been together for 22 years.

“We got talking and we exchanged phone numbers,” says Marcin, who is a master baker.

Coincidentally, the lads studied different subjects at the same college in Poland and they connected on that magical night.

“I was 19,” says Andrzey. Marcin was 21.”

From the word go, they knew they had a good thing going and a wonderful future together.

“We came to Ireland together because my brother Jack was already established here,” Andrzey says. “He was very good to us.”

They fell in love with the Irish people.

“The people were so nice and so welcoming everywhere that we went,” says Andrzey.

Roscrea was the couple’s first destination, but they admit that, coming from a big city, they “got a culture shock”.

“Six months later, we came to Cork,” says Andrzey.

“The recruitment agency got us jobs in a butcher’s shop, which has since closed. The butchers working there were there for years and I got good experience learning from them about quality cuts of meat.”

The job didn’t suit him though.

“I wasn’t keen on cutting up raw meat,” says Andrzey.

Marcin, working for clients as a physiotherapist in Hayfield Manor, thinking about the future, knew that the couple were destined for more ambitious things.

“When we opened the deli and coffee shop in Midleton across the road, Marcin did the organising, and I did the paperwork.”

The couple made a good team, and they worked well together.

“Marcin is the baker; I am the cook!” says Andrzey.

Was working together and living together a match made in heaven?

“Yes, it was, says Andrzey.

But true love never runs smooth.

“We sometimes differ over small things,” admits Marcin.

Like what?

“Like where are the socks? Where is the cover for the toothpaste?”

They never developed into big things though.

“We listen to each other, and we communicate well.”

The couple eventually married - but who proposed?

“It was a mutual decision when the people of Ireland voted yes for same-sex marriage,” says Marcin.

The loved-up, jubilant couple didn’t delay their big day after that.

“We got married in Silversprings. Bongo Steve, the DJ from the Voodoo Rooms, entertained us and our 80 guests. He’s brilliant.”

Did Andrzey display his groovy dance moves again?

“Oh yes,” says Andrzey.

It was a joint effort.

“We both did!”

“I thought I would cry at our wedding ceremony,” adds Andrzey. “I was so emotional, and it was so beautiful.”

However, the shoe ended up on the other foot!

“It was me who cried,” Marcin says. “I was so moved that I could hardly utter a word.”

He did manage to say ‘I do’, though, without hesitation.

This Valentine’s Day, a year on from when they opened Toastie, things will be different.

“We’ll be working this Valentine’s Day,” says Marcin. “Being together here, we can enjoy the love we share and the love we share with our customers.”

Back home they will share the love with Tiffany.

“Our cocker spaniel is Princess Tiffany,” says Andrzey.

“She is spoilt rotten.”

After the Valentine’s rush, the couple have planned a little getaway to Galway.

Marcin and Andrzey like and appreciate the good qualities in each other very much.

“Marcin is so kind-hearted,” says Andrzey.

Andrzey, working behind the scenes and front of house, is a good listener.

“He is always willing to listen and to compromise,” says Marcin. “Andrzey is considerate and non-judgemental.”

The couple are made for each other.

“We are so happy,” says Andrzey. “Life is short and to be with the life-partner you love forever is a rare and wonderful thing.”

Meanwhile, Will Sliney and his wife Laura have special plans for this Valentine’s Day.

The couple live in East Cork, overlooking Ballycotton Bay, with their children, Tadgh and Aria,

Will is internationally renowned as a Marvel comics graphic artist and is used to creating grand drawings, and is also capable of grand gestures.

When he proposed to Laura O’Callaghan, from Carrigaline, Will created a unique Disney-style comic documenting the couple’s beautiful love story.

The drawings showed when the couple first met, their first date, their travels at home and abroad, and his vision of their dream-like future together living happily ever after.

Multi-talented Will accompanied each episode of the love story with beautiful rhymes.

“It told the story about our relationship from our first date to Laura’s love of music, our adventures together and to our vison of the future,” he says.

The comic occupies a special place in the couple’s heart and a special place in their Ballycotton home.

“It was a birthday surprise for Laura,” says Will. “The comic took me a year to complete.”

Will got a wobble before proposing to his first love.

“I was more nervous about displaying the comic than I was asking her father’s permission to marry her!”

The couple had first met on a night out in Cork city.

“I was out with friends in Crane Lane,” says Will. “The night will always be ingrained in my mind.

“My friend was celebrating the successful result of repeating Christmas exams.”

He got talking to the girl beside him, a young teacher and musician.

“The house has been on fire since then!” says Will, speaking about his fiery passion for his wife.

“I saw her sing on stage. As she sang, electricity filled the air.”

How did he feel?

“For this girl; I would live on a prayer.”

The dynamic duo embarked on their own four-year adventure.

After their first date going karting, they travelled to the Cliffs of Moher, staying in a tent. They went from Thailand to Portugal, swimming in the waves and feeding fish.

“We drank Changs and danced at the Full Moon Party.”

The stars aligned for the young couple in love.

“Laura made my life and work better,” says Will, referring to one of his drawings in the comic he created for the ‘Big Question’.”

Will, known around the world for his Marvel comics, is first and foremost a local man who plays with his GAA team, Russell Rovers.

“We had a fabulous wedding in Garryvoe Hotel in 2017,” says Will. “The wedding invitations were adapted from the cover of August 1962 Marvel’s Amazing Fantasy Series,” says Will.

That was when the famous web-slinging superhero Spiderman was introduced to the world.

How do they spend their spare time now?

“When we take time out for us away from family time, when the grandparents step in to mind the kids, we go for a night out in Cork, nowhere too fancy,” says Will.

“We still have great fun and giggle like little kids.”

How will the loved-up couple celebrate Valentine’s Day?

“We are going to the Russell Rovers annual social in Garryvoe Hotel,” says Will. “We have a lot to celebrate.”