A zookeeper hunting escaped capybaras and the Tin Man in “The Wizard of Oz” are from two different worlds.
One is the stuff of Toronto lore, when High Park Zoo’s bristly fugitives famously traipsed across the city. The other is from the Land of Oz with witches and flying monkeys.
But in 2016, those worlds collided on a Halloween weekend at The Garrison, where Nick and Beth Chauvin met amid a throng of costumed partiers. The room pulsed as a live band played music by the Backstreet Boys and Spice Girls.
Four years later, the couple married on Halloween, the spookiest day of the year.
Now a decade after they met, Nick and Beth are proud parents of a two-year-old son and two cats. Ironically, one is a black cat named Anchovy, who circles the couple and bathes by the sunlight on a cool autumn day. With the holiday approaching, the couple is gearing up for their son’s first night of trick-or-treating.
A meet-cute in costume
Nick wasn’t even supposed to be at The Garrison the night they met. By chance, he stopped by with his friend Matt Buckman — also a capybara hunter — after a work party.
Among the venue’s loud music Nick remembers Beth and her Oz-themed friend group felt like an “easy icebreaker.” On first impression, Beth recalls telling her friends that Nick, while incredibly cute and sweet, “looks like a child.”
“I was dressed like a Boy Scout from my zookeeper outfit, essentially,” Nick laughed. “So yes, it did age me down.”
Still, the couple exchanged phone numbers. For many years after, Beth saved his contact as “Nick Zookeeper.” Buckman remembers his costume partner talking to the girl he met all night.
“They immediately gravitated towards one another.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been back to The Garrison since,” Nick laughed. “It’s kind of fun that it has a single memory point.”
Chance continued to play in Nick and Beth’s favour.
On separate Halloween outings the next night, they found each other again at The Drake. The hotel was hosting a Prince and David Bowie-themed party to honour the musicians, who had both died earlier that year. Nick dressed as Bowie’s alter ego Ziggy Stardust, and Beth, in an unrelated costume, donned a yellow skirt as Snow White.
The night at The Drake led to a walk home together, which led to a sketch comedy show another day and a failed attempt at escaping an escape room on another. Four months into seeing each other, the couple hiked through the Grand Canyon together.
“I just knew we were super comfortable and that this was going all the way,” Nick said.
“I never had to wonder whether or not he liked me,” Beth added. “He was just so sweet and he still is.”
The couple has worn coordinating costumes every Halloween since. The Lobby Boy and the Baker from Wes Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” sexy versions of Shrek characters, and an elf and a reindeer from the 1964 “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” claymation film.
For Buckman, the zookeeper costume remains a personal favourite, though he remembers the couple’s connection just as clearly.
“They share a lot of the same, very niche interests,” he said. “Both of them are Halloween people … It was the perfect place for them to find each other.”
A spooky non-Halloween wedding
The couple was set for a beautiful late August wedding in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic upended their plans. Once again, chance intervened: Oct. 31 gave Nick and Beth just enough time to quarantine their 25 guests and shift gears to get married at the Scarborough Golf and Country Club.
Some guests asked whether the wedding would be costumed. The couple adamantly decided against it.
“Our story just has had so much Halloween…” Beth started.
“It just wasn’t the vibe we wanted.” Nick finished.
Still, spooky easter eggs crept in. In one photo, Nick smiles with fake vampire fangs next to his grinning wife. Nearby, a skeleton hangs from a lamppost after the venue’s Halloween party.
Six years since their wedding, the couple’s Cabbagetown home sits along a street strewn with crunchy autumn leaves. Lawns are covered with gravestones, ghouls and pumpkins. Their home is less decorated; they prefer to go all-out with their costumes.
This year, they plan to dress as a farmer and fox, with their son donning a chicken onesie, for his first night of trick-or-treating.
“Halloween is a great time to meet people, because you get to see a bit of their fun character,” Nick said. “You get more out of meeting somebody on Halloween at a bar than just a normal weekend.”
