Gabby Valente and Andrew Rowland first met six years ago at Stonehill College. 

While at a popular Stonehill party spot, they hit it off instantly. Rowland asked Valente out on a first date, but she ghosted him soon after, as she was not emotionally ready.  

“It wasn’t even him, I just wasn’t ready to date at the time,” Valente said. “It was my first semester of college and I was trying to make friends and not date anybody.”

They rekindled the romance one year later at a Stonehill winter dance. When asked what changed, the young couple found that being good friends with each other first was key to a successful relationship. 

“We were both able to be comfortable with one another, and I think we were just as good friends as much as we liked each other,” Rowland said. 

“It felt like I’ve known him for a really long time and it was very easy to be myself around him,” Valente said. 

With Valentine’s Day coming up, the couple might go to their favorite date night spot in the North End, Panza. If they want to spice it up, they said they’ll go to Limoncello. 

The couple loves how they bring out the best in each other. 

“He just makes everything so lighthearted and easy and fun,” Valente said. 

“She keeps things more grounded and she doesn’t give herself enough credit about how she makes everything better around her and the people around her better,” Rowland said.