When Tyler Chuck-Yin and Helena Alexandra started planning their wedding, they considered an unorthodox venue: the place where they met. But this Toronto couple’s meet-cute didn’t happen in a photogenic garden or sun-dappled bistro.
They met in Bathurst Station.
And so, on May 14, the TTC’s busiest Line 2 stop hosted not only its usual hordes of commuters but a wedding, too.
Chuck-Yin and Alexandra’s love story began back in April 2024, when Chuck-Yin would head from Mississauga to work downtown, alighting at Bathurst Station at 8:34 a.m. every day. That’s when he saw Alexandra for the first time. Living in the Annex, she’d make her way into the station to start her commute, just as Chuck-Yin ended his. The first thing the fashion freelancer, 29, noticed about the 23-year-old legal assistant? “She’s got a long black coat on, and I think to myself, ‘dang, she has pretty cool style.’” Given how many people stream in and out of Bathurst every day, he figured he’d never see her again. But then she reappeared another day. And another. Over the course of months, he started spotting her a few times a week.
She’d noticed him, too, thanks to his all-black ensemble, sunglasses and imposing six-foot-two frame that made him look like a character out of “The Matrix.” “It felt like I just met Death, like the Grim Reaper,” she remembers. “It was so cool.” She told her coworkers and friends about Chuck-Yin, dubbing him her TTC crush.
After several months of stealing glances at each other, fate finally intervened, “Sliding Doors”-style. Chuck-Yin had just gotten off the train when Alexandra emerged onto the platform — and just missed the train. They made eye contact, as usual, and Chuck-Yin headed up the stairs to go to work, as usual. But then he stopped. “This is actually the perfect opportunity to actually talk to her,” he thought. And so he turned around and went back down to the platform. “I just wanna say you have great style,” he said. “You have great style as well,” Alexandra replied. Over the next few weeks, the two both separately began scheming to meet at the same spot on the train and platform so they could wish each other good morning, until one day Chuck-Yin manufactured a run-in outside the station and finally offered her his phone number.
Given that Alexandra was winding down a previous relationship, they hung out as friends for a few months, but come November, Chuck-Yin finally asked her to be his; a year later, he asked her to marry him. They both wanted a small wedding, so what about their meet-cute spot, Chuck-Yin’s sister-in-law wondered. And so the couple corralled officiant Lainie Magidsohn, who already had a Spadina Station wedding on her CV. “The TTC feels so iconically Toronto,” Magidsohn says. “For people whose lives and love stories are connected to this city, what a great place to tie the knot.” They’d be wed by the bakery serving Jamaican patties, since that’s where they had some of their first chats.
“Helena and Tyler were coming to the wedding on the subway and so naturally they were a little late,” Lainie says. “Very Toronto!” En route, many riders congratulated the bride and groom, decked out in their wedding finery. “That felt so nice and warm,” Alexandra says, “like a welcoming from the city.”
The wedding itself was pretty surreal, according to Chuck-Yin: “As Lainie was officiating us, we could hear the sounds of Bathurst Station, and smell the smell of patties.” “If you see something, say something.” “Winner! Gagnon!” “Honestly, it was like music to my ears,” Alexandra laughs. “It just felt like home; it felt right. I don’t think we could have done it in any other way.” Their dads acted as witnesses, and the owners of a café — right near Bathurst station, naturally — who had become dear friends were the ring-bearers. They skipped a wedding photographer in favour of their best friends snapping away with their phones and a film camera; as Alexandra pointed out, “they already know our best angles.”
As the woman serving patties watched, Lainie decreed them husband and wife; they sealed their vow not only with a kiss, but a visit to the patty stand. Onlookers passing through cheered on the newlyweds, according to Alexandra: “I felt so much love from people, from the strangers and the passersby.”
“Being in the subway made it extra fun,” Magidsohn says. “One of the things I said in their ceremony was that anyplace can be elevated and made sacred when we are present with intention. Holding a ceremony in a space as mundane as a subway station makes it a holy place for those who are there and sharing the experience.”
Today, the couple have moved into a new place together, near College station. “On Line 1, unfortunately,” Alexandra deadpans. “I believe in Line 2 supremacy.” Even if they’re no longer on the Bloor line, they’ll always remember where their love began. The TTC made sure to send a wedding gift. Some fridge magnets. A history book. And a big sign, that now hangs proudly in their living room: Bathurst Station.
