Hailee and Conor share a love of cooking and interesting cuisine. Naturally, they met in line for cheeseburgers in their first week of law school in September 2014. They quickly became friends, getting to know one another through shared classes, law school parties, and participating in Law Show (Hailee was in the band, Conor acted and wrote), but they didn’t solidify their love connection until their last year of law school.

In February 2017, dressed in their finest attire, Hailee and Conor separately descended upon the Westin Hotel in downtown Edmonton for the social event of the law school season, the Carbolic Smoke Ball, a gala named for the famous 1893 legal case of the same name. Amidst a heady combination of legal puns, cocktail attire, and actual cocktails, Hailee and Conor got to talking, then dancing.

At the end of the night, realizing the missed opportunity in the cheeseburger line years earlier, Hailee and Conor emptied the remnants of the candy table into Hailee’s purse and caught a ride to Conor’s apartment. There Hailee shared her love of classic 80s films, and they watched Turner and Hooch and Coming to America, and chatted until the sun came up, their first kiss witnessed by Tom Hanks and Eddie Murphy.

Over the next months Hailee and Conor spent study breaks, evenings and weekends together - walking to Remedy for chai lattes between classes, watching movies at the Garneau and Princess Theatres, and wandering around campus together. They bonded over other cinematic masterpieces such as The Blob, Night of the Living Dead, and Singing in the Rain - growing closer and ignoring the impending end of law school, and the fact that they would be starting their articles in different provinces.

In April 2017, Conor left Edmonton to move to his hometown of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, to begin his articles with his dad and Novus Law Group. Hailee stayed in Edmonton, honing her legal and karaoke skills with the good folks at Bryan & Company. Despite the distance, and their budding careers, Hailee and Conor never questioned that they would make the distance work for them and find their way back to the same city.

For the next year and a half, Hailee and Conor spent their weekends on the road, travelling the prairies between Edmonton and Prince Albert, falling deeper in love while sharing what they loved most about their communities - enjoying vibrant summer nights on Saskatoon patios, the beauty of Waskesiu in the Fall, or a rainy day visit to the Muttart Conservatory before a flight or drive home on Sunday.

In January 2019, Conor found his way back to Edmonton, and to Hailee. Since that first February night in 2017, they’ve built a life and home together in Edmonton, the city where they first fell in love, and have grown together in ways they never imagined while in the line for cheeseburgers that first week of law school.

In their eight years together, Hailee and Conor have celebrated their friends getting married and having babies, survived a global pandemic and all it entailed (for Hailee, addictions to gardening and Animal Crossing, and for Conor, attempts at sourdough and a beard), and welcomed their sweet poodle girl, Ginny, into their home.

Hailee and Conor have celebrated the lives and grieved the loss of loved ones together, and have always been each other’s shoulder, support, and biggest fan in all that they do. Together they have traveled to Las Vegas, San Francisco, New York City, Newfoundland, Toronto, Dublin, Galway, Derry, Belfast, and many points in between. And, now, almost 11 years since they first met, they cannot wait to share this next stop on their journey with their closest friends and family - those who have celebrated, supported, and laughed with them through it all.

Through the Years