Mistakenly sent WhatsApp message leads couple to get married

A couple have revealed how one message to the wrong number changed both their lives forever.

Last year Lina Dahlbeck, 37 from Morden, south London, received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number, which she assumed was sent by mistake.

The message read “Girls Trip”, was sent by Michael Evangelou, 44, from Colliers Wood in south London, Evangelou thought he was messaging himself as a reminder to see the film at the cinema, according to Independent.

He was shocked to receive a reply saying: “Hi! Girls trip? Who’s this please? I’m guessing this was intended for another Lina.”

After realising he had accidentally sent the message to a stranger, the pair started a conversation in an attempted to figure out exactly what had happened.



Dahlbeck and Evangelou chatted for most of the day before planning to meet that night.

“We started chatting back and forth. I think if I wasn’t single I wouldn’t have continued the chat,” Dahlbeck said, adding, “I had checked the picture on his WhatsApp profile and he was attractive.”

The couple met after the initial message was sent, they also met the next day for brunch.

“He was so attractive. He talked a lot but I realised it was because he was nervous. It was really adorable,” Dahlbeck added.

The couple say people are astonished every time they explain how they met. PHOTO COURTESY: INDEPENDENT

“We were both so puzzled by the whole thing - we were on a date just four hours after that WhatsApp message.”

A whirlwind romance was the result which neither of them expected.

Two weeks after their first date Evangelou proposed Dahlbeck.

“We were talking about our dreams and I said I had always wanted to live in Dubai,” Dahlbeck explained.

“Michael said: ‘Let’s do it, let’s move there together.

“I explained that it was a Muslim country so we would have to be married to live together.

“It wasn’t a hint at all but he said: ‘Let’s do it then. Let’s get married.

“I asked him if he was serious and he assured me that he was. He said: "I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Lina.

“Even though we were just sitting at home with the television on, it felt romantic. I knew I wanted to marry him.”

The couple married on December 7 in front of 30 guests at Morden Park House, South West London.

Just two weeks after their first date, Michael asked Lina to marry him. PHOTO COURTESY: INDEPENDENT

Their parents were fully supportive but “Most of our friends thought we were bit nuts but they agreed that if it’s right you know and there are no guarantees in this life,” said Dahlbeck.

Dahlbeck and Evangelou can’t believe how much their lives have changed in seven months, after one mistaken message as they still enjoy sharing their ‘how we met story’.

In March, the couple is jetting off to Dubai where Dahlbeck aims to launch a make-up school.

The couple insists that their story is a lesson to others not to give up on love.

Article originally appeared in Independent.