Ahhh, romance. Most of us are suckers for it. A good girl-meets-guy-against-all-odds story can have us all mushy inside.

Is it just me, or did you also suddenly become more likely to burst into tears at the drop of a hat once you became a mum? Not just me? Good. Yes, even a soppy TV ad can have me sobbing. So when I read the following story, needless to say I had more than just a tear in my eye.

A homeless man in the UK once gave a passer-by 50p. He had asked her for spare change and, when she explained her own not-so-great financial situation, ended up helping her out instead. Two and a half years later, after what the woman describes as “one mad love story”, they’ve tied the knot in a ceremony at St Paul’s church in Bristol, The Guardian reports

Jack Richardson gave Toni Osborne money for electricity so she would not have to spend Christmas in the dark.

Big Issue seller marries woman he met when asking for change https://t.co/XAxhIKwaEW. Made me :)to think it’s not about what you have

— MBison (@michaelmcnorton) March 20, 2016

“I was in a really bad place when I met Toni. I was having to beg every day just to get enough money for a night in a bed and breakfast,” Richardson said.

“It was coming up to Christmas 2013 and I wandered up to this woman to ask her for money and she just burst into tears. She had bought everything ready for Christmas and thought she had saved enough money for the meter, but when she put it in it wasn’t enough.

“She was a couple of pennies away from spending Christmas in the dark. Even though I was begging, I gave her the 50p to put her lights back on,” he said.

Over the next year Osborne regularly walked past Richardson and they became friends. At first their chats were about trivial things, but then they gradually shared more and became closer, Richardson said.

When the squat Richardson was living in was boarded up, Osborne let him stay with her. Their friendship developed into love and Richardson, by then a Big Issue seller, proposed to Osborne on the spot where he had given her the 50p. The pair married using wedding rings, clothes, wine and a cake donated by friends and well-wishers. They can’t afford a honeymoon, however people have donated money so that Richardson can take time off to be with his new wife.

Congratulations to Jack and Toni ???????? Big Issue seller marries woman he gave 50p to https://t.co/EElC2mpPNd pic.twitter.com/zErweNM7El — BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) March 19, 2016

“Every day used to be a struggle. I had considered ending my own life. I couldn’t see any way out of the situation and it just seemed to keep getting harder. I couldn’t see any future. But now I have someone stable who I love and who loves me. I’m able to look to the future,” Richardson said.

Osborne, who is unable to work due to health issues, said she has had people ask her for money before and she would get upset when she couldn’t afford to help.

“Jack went into his pocket and gave me what I needed. Someone without a roof over his head had enough money to help me. He had dignity. It just really blew me away. Before, I was bumbling around on my own. He has changed my outlook on everything completely. It has been one mad love story,” she said.

Can we all say “Awwwww!”. Ain’t love grand.