BE... Surnames 2000-2009 Marriage

BELVEDERE m@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2006-03-04 published
Amanda Maria DERVAITIS and Matthew Stephen CASSAN -- Match:
By Judith TENENBAUM, Page▼ M6
Just one look was all it took for Amanda DERVAITIS to fall for Matthew CASSAN, whose brother, Jim, was the high-school sweetheart of her cousin, Laura VANDERLAAN, and also an acquaintance of hers.
The threesome often visited the CASSAN household, where Ms. DERVAITIS remembers admiring family photos. "I said to Jim, 'Wow, your brother is so cute!' But I'd never met him. It was a weird crush," she explains. Not to mention that Mr. CASSAN was in a relationship at the time.
Then, in December, 2000, the plucky Ms. DERVAITIS tagged along with her cousin to a surprise birthday party for the object of her unrequited affections -- hosted by Mr. CASSAN's girlfriend. Undeterred by that salient detail, she admits to "changing six times" before she was ready for the event. Face to face with Mr. CASSAN, at last, she had to cut the banter short when she realized she had been monopolizing the guest of honour.
The following spring, Ms. DERVAITIS, who has a bachelor of education from McGill University and was working at a Toronto learning centre, was in urgent need of a break after "one of the worst weeks in my life." So her cousin, Laura, and Laura's boyfriend, Jim, offered her solace at his family's cottage. There they encountered Mr. CASSAN, who had just completed his animation studies at Sheridan College. Happily for Ms. DERVAITIS, he was now unattached.
Long-time cottagers, Mr. CASSAN and Ms. DERVAITIS saw nothing untoward in sharing quarters. "We got the bunk room," she explains. All night long, they talked about their lives, commitment to environmental issues and favourite pastimes, including Looney Tunes and Samurai Jack.
"It was like a sleepover, when you were a kid," Mr. CASSAN remembers, chuckling.
"My face hurt from smiling so much," Ms. DERVAITIS says, beaming.
Back home, the magic lingered. Mr. CASSAN resolved "to move slowly," then called before the requisite 24 hours were up. Three days later, on a first date together, they watched animated shorts together at a bar. "Growing up, I loved cartoons," Ms. DERVAITIS confides. "Then Matt came along, I was completely enamoured&hellip and he was an animator."
They were inseparable through the summer, and their love was tested when Mr. CASSAN took a job in Halifax and Ms. DERVAITIS returned to school in Montreal that fall. For further studies in speech pathology, she "only applied to Dalhousie. I wasn't willing to go anywhere else." Denied admission due to limited enrolment, she journeyed to Halifax anyway, clerking in a mall and then working as a tutor.
In April, 2003, Mr. CASSAN's animation studio shut down unexpectedly. Three weeks later, the two packed everything into a U-Haul and returned to Ontario. Their impecunious struggles continued until the following October, when Mr. CASSAN landed a job at Smiley Guy Studios in downtown Toronto. In January, 2004, Ms. DERVAITIS, now 27, began training in order to open her own Oxford Learning Centre in High Park.
In June, 2005, a planned first-ever vacation by Smart car to Newfoundland stalled with reports of frigid weather.
So instead Mr. CASSAN splurged on a Dominican package, using funds he had earmarked for a diamond ring.
Frolicking in the Caribbean, Ms. DERVAITIS assumed a spontaneous proposal was whimsical until Mr. CASSAN's pleadings became so heartfelt that they were both overcome with emotion. In the end, the promise was sealed with an $8 ring, a hotel purchase that has not left Ms. DERVAITIS's hand since then.
December 31, 2005, saw a tripartite event at the Trident Banquet Hall in Toronto: the bridegroom's 30th birthday celebration, a black-and-silver themed New Year's Eve fete and the couple's nuptials, performed by Reverend Tina GABRIEL.
The bride's mother, Lucy BELVEDERE, observes: "They are very much in sync, and their openness keeps them in tune with each other.
"Amanda followed her heart."