You might recognize Aarti Pole from your morning news. As the host of CBC News Network with Aarti Pole, she’s been delivering live and breaking stories from across the country every weekday since 2022. And with a newborn baby this year transforming her family from three to four, she and her husband Gavin Pais have plenty to celebrate. The award-winning journalist gives us the scoop on her and her husband’s very modern meet-cute and spoiled proposal. 

How they met

Believe it or not — we both swiped right! I never thought I’d meet my future husband on an app, but after our first date, we didn’t miss a day of either speaking with each other or messaging or seeing the other person. And that was that! I don’t know if we would have met any other way — as we got closer we realized we had no mutual friends or connections. He grew up in the UAE, and I grew up in Vancouver, and we both moved to Toronto in our twenties.

The first date

We went to Zaza Espresso Bar in Yorkville and ended up just chatting for hours. He was late (as he always is now too). But once we started talking, things just clicked. 

The relationship 

On our third date, we went to the Reservoir Lounge, which has live music. After dinner, Gavin took me to the dance floor — he could really dance, swing and jive, and I’ll admit it, I was impressed. Dance has been a big part of my life, and I always hoped I’d be with someone who loved it too. After that date, we didn’t see each other for about a month because I was travelling to Costa Rica for two weeks and he was leaving for Croatia the day I returned. A month later, when the fourth date came along, we decided to head to the Bahamas! Traveling together is the best way to really get to know a person, and thankfully, things went really well. The following month we went to Bermuda — and then I moved to Washington, D.C., for work. We had only known each other for five months but decided to try a long distance relationship.

The proposal

We had been dating for two years, and we were going on a trip to Jamaica to celebrate the mini milestone. I did not suspect a thing, but just as we were checking into our hotel, someone accidentally spilled the beans! We were both in complete shock, for different reasons. But they made it up to us! What was going to be a proposal during a candlelit dinner on the beach ended up being much more extravagant. He proposed on a private dock, with a live saxophone player and singer, followed by a sunset cruise. 

The wedding and honeymoon 

We got married in Cancun — can you tell we’re beach bums? It was a full five day affair, with both Hindu and Catholic traditions, and both of our families got to spend so much time together, which was incredibly important to us. The Catholic ceremony was in a glass chapel overlooking the water, and the Hindu ceremony was on the beach at sunset. Everyone had a blast, and has fond memories from what ended up also being a really fun family and friend reunion for both sides.

The honeymoon was two months later in Spain. After landing in Barcelona, we drove up and down the country, stopping in San Sebastian, Rioja, Madrid, Cordoba, Seville, Venice and back to Barcelona. We didn’t make a plan, we just stopped where we wanted to along the way and either spent a few nights, or moved to the next city. Spain is such a beautiful country, and we loved every minute of it.

The kids

We have two! — our three-year-old daughter, Kinaara, and three-month-old son, Rivaan. We just became a family of four this year.

Shared hobbies and interests

Well, we both love to travel and have been to more than a dozen countries together since we met in 2014. He likes soccer, and I prefer hockey — but we are both Raptors fans! We also both love to dance, and we’ve taken a couple of classes together, but now with parent duties, we haven’t had time to keep it up…maybe in a few years we’ll pick it up again.

The secret to success

We really try to make sure we’re in a partnership where we support each other.  We take turns sitting in the driver’s seat. We definitely never go to bed angry with each other. Who likes to wake up with a grudge. Also laughter — there’s no better way to get through the stresses of marriage with young kids than laughter.

The future together

I hope we continue to explore the world together and expose our kids to different cultures and places. No matter what the future holds, it’ll be an adventure.