From sharing glances across a far emptier restaurant and revealing their feelings for each other through a glass screen, to getting hitched and welcoming their first child together, First Daters Carla Maria and James Gerard 'Shez' Sherry are living proof of the old adage: when you know, you know.
The pair first appeared on our screens in 2020 when they were matched for a date in the First Dates restaurant, and became the first couple from the show to tie the knot.
On tonight's episode, they returned to the scene of that fateful encounter, where they were welcomed by the staff once more and shared a romantic meal, eight weeks before their daughter Frankie - named after Carla's late father - was born.
Shez had popped the question in June 2021 and the pair had initially planned to get married in November 2022 at Corick House Hotel in County Tyrone. He made the announcement on Instagram that they'd gotten hitched earlier than expected once they learned they had a baby on the way.
"I can't wait to see her", Shez told producers, adding, "she has me wrapped around her finger already".
"We've no idea what's coming!" laughed Carla, who works as a nurse from Antrim. "I think I've a better idea what's coming than Shez has. He's no idea what's coming. I think it's hilarious. He thinks this baby's going to be so easy. I'm like I don't know what babies you've seen!"
The couple reflected on their romantic journey thus far, with Carla saying: "Where would we be without First Dates? It made our life."
Dundalk native Shez continued, saying, "It's better than winning the lottery. If someone said, look, you can have a billion euro to go back in time, I'd say obviously no. This made my life. My wife and my kid, thanks to First Dates. It's given me everything. It's given me the rest of my life."
Speaking about discovering that they were expecting a baby, Carla recalled how it was a "thin" line on the pregnancy test that kicked it all off.
"We found out really early", she told producers. "So it has felt like forever."
Watch First Dates back on RTÉ Player now.
