For Caeli Mitchell, seeing Taylor Swift live in Toronto was a dream come true — in more ways than one.
The paralegal, 29, and her now-fiancé, Mike Cheff, 35, had tailed Swift for months across the U.S. The couple stood outside concerts in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, and even scored tickets to the Eras Tour in Pittsburgh.
But it was their second Eras Tour concert, this time in Toronto, that changed both of their lives forever.
“I get choked up just talking about it,” Mitchell told the Star. “It’s a story that’ll last a lifetime.”
Love story
Mitchell and Cheff met in 2020, during the height of the pandemic. Mitchell had baked cookies for her entire apartment building — a token of apology for her new puppy’s habit of “screaming all day long” — and Cheff was her appreciative upstairs neighbour.
“Michael came downstairs and knocked on me and my ex-boyfriend’s door to thank us for the cookies,” said Mitchell, “and that’s how I met him.”
She and her then-boyfriend were navigating a rocky patch in their relationship; they broke up two months later. Mitchell said she leaned on Cheff for support during the tumultuous time, although neither expected anything to come of it.
“I was not ever one to swoop in and get in the middle of people’s relationships,” said Cheff. “But I felt like I was sort of a saving grace for her at the time. And it just took off from there, unexpectedly.”
“I was definitely not in a good place when I met Michael, but that’s why I fell so far in love with him,” said Mitchell. “He actually showed me a better side of life — one that wasn’t just negativity and storms all the time.”
You belong with me
Their relationship wasn’t all smooth sailing. In the beginning, Cheff said he had no intention of getting married or having children — a major turnoff for Mitchell. They also had different tastes in music: Mitchell harboured a lifelong “obsession” with Taylor Swift, while Cheff’s vibe was more “country or Lil’ Wayne.”
Over time, their relationship deepened.
“She’s really, really cool,” Cheff said, of Mitchell. “She likes all my friends and likes to go four-wheeling and riding and boating … she’s a good one to have around.”
Meanwhile, Mitchell had enrolled Cheff in a crash-course in Swiftology, exposing him to all of the singer’s hits.
Mitchell’s passion was infectious. Through the power of musical osmosis, Cheff said he began to genuinely appreciate Swift’s work. “He really is a Swiftie (now), because he does really, really like her,” Mitchell said, adding, “but not as much as I do.”
As his music tastes shifted, so too did Cheff’s aversion to the idea of getting married.
“I mentioned to Caeli about getting engaged, and I stuck to my word and actually did it. I did the unthinkable for myself,” Cheff said, laughing.
Today was a fairytale
The couple were fortunate enough to score tickets to Swift’s Toronto dates without going through resellers, which made for a spectacular finale to their year-long journey of following the megastar across her tour of North America.
To save money, the pair stayed at an Airbnb in Pickering, and made the pilgrimage into Toronto on Friday for the second date of Swift’s visit to the city.
“I don’t get emotional about music, but when she came onstage, it literally (brought) tears to my eyes,” said Mitchell. “Even just being outside of the stadium is insane.”
Mitchell had a gut feeling that Cheff would propose to her during the concert, and that he would do it during “Lover” — a song Cheff promised they would dance to at their wedding. So when “Lover” came and went, she felt a deep wave of disappointment wash through her.
The show went on. Then, as Swift launched into “Love Story,” Cheff turned to Mitchell and placed a beaded bracelet in her hand. Its letters spelled out four words: “Will u marry me.”
Stunned, Mitchell looked up to see her soon-to-be fiancé dip to one knee, right as Swift belted out: “Marry me Juliet, you’ll never have to be alone.”
“The next four songs after that, I didn’t even see,” she said. “My head was spinning, I was just looking at my ring.”
The rest of the concert passed in a blur.
“There was nothing that he could have done that would have topped that for me,” said Mitchell. “This was a story that, for the next hundred years, I’ll just be beaming to tell.”
