4 Fashion Journal readers on the first time they said ‘I love you’
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PANDORA
WORDS BY MIA HARRISON
“I wouldn’t trade our weird love for anything.”
Telling someone you love them (in a romantic context) for the first time is a pretty big deal, right? ‘I love you’ is probably something you’ve grown comfortable throwing around with your pals late on a night out – or it’s even something you might accidentally say when signing off a Telehealth session with your psychologist (I did that the other day). But when it’s the first time you’re saying it to a new honey (or maybe you’re confessing feelings for a long-time crush), it’s usually a pretty important event.
If you’re like me, you confessed your love to your darlin’ some time ago, but perhaps you’re planning on saying it sometime soon. Wherever you’re at with your romance, every love story is unique. Whether you write the words in the sky or in a text, if it’s authentic to you, that’s what matters. This Valentine’s Day, Pandora is commemorating the uniqueness of love and celebrating how personal it can be.
Interested to hear how others navigate the world? Head to our Life section.
This may be your first V-Day with your partner(s) or maybe it’s just another one to add to the books. But on this lover’s day, you can say “I love you” in a way that embodies the distinct qualities of your connection. I know I’ll be spending some time trying to find the perfect gift.
Whether you feel that a heartfelt charm from the Timeless collection resonates, or you think your love speaks more to a sparkly Studded Chain from the Moments collection, each Pandora piece is designed to honour love. And hey, the new range is vast, so there’s bound to be something for everyone. To celebrate Pandora‘s Unique as Your Love campaign, I asked four Fashion Journal readers to tell us about a time they said ‘I love you’ for the first time.
Ben Ilobuchi, model and writer, he/him
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I’ve said ‘I love you’ to my girlfriend for the first time thrice. The first time was in 2018 after she read me a poem she’d written me. I said I loved her through tears. We weren’t in a relationship and lost touch soon after. She moved to Japan and we dated other people. In 2021 we reconnected again, she said she loved me but didn’t know if she still liked me. I said I still loved her but wasn’t even sure what that meant.
We started dating properly in 2022 and I moved to Sydney to be with her. Upon arriving after the nine-hour drive I said I loved her again, but this time it felt like a promise. Every time I say I love her it feels like the first time because every time I say it we are different people and I mean it in a different way.
Ruby Staley, writer and content creator, she/they
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Although I’m lucky enough to have people in my life I regularly say “I love you” to, possibly the most poignant for me (in a romantic sense) was one of my ex-partners. Luckily we’re still friends to this day and there’s no bad blood here at all, so I remember this moment positively. To set the scene, we had been seeing each other for a few months, feelings were brewing and one night when we were out with friends I felt like it was going to happen. I was going to say I loved them whether I liked it or not.
We were dancing on the sticky bar floor, my arms around their neck, and I remember just leaning in to whisper (loudly because the music was pumping) that I loved them. They pulled away for a moment to show me how visibly happy they were and then leaned back in to tell me they felt the same and were waiting for me to say it first. Although it’s slightly juvenile to tell your partner you love them while half-sauced at the bar, it still remains a very sweet moment in my eyes.
Jonti Ridley, writer and content creator, they/them
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The last time I said ‘I love you’ for the first time, I technically didn’t say it. In all honesty, I had to ask my ex if he even remembered the ‘first time’ because I was really struggling. To my genuine surprise, without missing a beat, he said he did. For context, we’ve stayed good friends post-breakup, so a sudden and impossibly vague line of communication is not unusual behaviour from either scatterbrained party.
I told him through text, he informed me, during a late-night family emergency a few hours away. I’d penned a lengthy paragraph signed “And if it helps at all, I love you or whatever” (quite the wordsmith, really).
Once I’d been refreshed, I remembered how early it was in our relationship… As sure as I was that that was how I felt, the words just kept getting caught in my throat before I could spit them out. I didn’t initially remember the text, but I do remember how badly I wanted to be there for him in whatever way I could despite feeling distant, powerless and unable to comfort him.
I called it a ‘coward move’ because I’m the one who witnessed themselves tossing their phone in anxiety across the room after hitting send. He said it was one of the kindest moments of his life. Looking back, it’s funny to think about the moments we created together by accident. Despite our relationship looking dramatically different nearly five years later, I wouldn’t trade our weird love for anything.
Sonia Blair, writer, she/her
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The first – and only – time I have said “I love you” was both a thrill and as clunkily awkward as every big milestone in our relationship. I’d wanted to say it for a while but also was afraid of being the first to pull the trigger (coming on too strong and all that jazz).
It was a week after my birthday and my boyfriend and I were winding down for the evening. I could feel an energy in the air that was just… different. He said it first, I went in for a hug and obviously stayed silent in shock for a touch too long, which prompted him to nervously say, “You don’t have to say it back – it’s okay!”. I then started babbling “I love you” multiple times to reassure him that yes, it was mutual. Real, true love.
To find a piece as unique as your love, shop Pandora’s collection here.
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