Milan Style

On a frigid June night two years ago, 18,054 people assembled at Etihad Stadium for a contest of AFL teams.

Chantelle Schembri and Michael Yates were two faces in the crowd and perfect strangers until the quarter-time break, when a chance meeting changed the course of their lives.

The Western Bulldogs were up by six points, leading the Brisbane Lions, at this first major pause in play. It was good news for Dogs member Ms Schembri, who took the opportunity to buy a drink but, within the throng, lost her friend Chris – a mate from interstate who was making his Aussie rules match debut.

Needing an obvious landmark to regroup, Ms Schembri nominated a pop-up merchandise shop at gate six. She could never have forecast meeting her future husband there while waiting.

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A plasterer from Melbourne's west, Mr Yates was milling about the same footy paraphernalia outlet when his eyes were drawn to a blonde who sparkled. Ms Schembri's gaze met his and was simultaneously locked. She disapproved of the Brisbane Lions shirt this guy was wearing but, like everything else in the busy setting, even that faded away.

"I thought he was handsome and he was looking lost as well, so I started talking to him. I just walked up and asked, 'Did you lose your friend, too?' " she recalls of the moment.

"It was really natural. I don't know, he just kept smiling."

The pair talked for about 20 minutes before Ms Schembri's re-appeared and the parties went their separate ways, though not before an exchange of phone numbers that was quickly put to good use. The proposition of a first date had been flagged before the final siren.

"I texted first," Mr Yates, who was playing footy for North Sunshine at the time, remembered on Wednesday morning about two hours before marrying the woman he met that night.

"I'd seen this beautiful, lovely girl. She just caught my eye, I was looking at her and she just walked over."

Almost immediately, Ms Schembri's visions jumped to long-term.

"I told Chris that night: I'm going to marry that guy one day.

"It was just how he made me feel. The way he looked at me, it was like a 10-year-old about to open a present; his eyes were just full of excitement. It was just amazing."

The location for the pair's first organised date was the Bulldogs' next home game.

"From that day I thought, 'I can marry this woman,' " Mr Yates recalled.

"She just had this sparkle all around her."

By the time Mr Yates, 25, proposed to Ms Schembri, also 25, last November, he had converted from a quasi-Collingwood supporter to a Western Bulldogs fan. The Lions shirt he was wearing the first night they met was merely a show of support for the Lions-supporting friend he was at the footy with.

On Wednesday morning, inside Etihad Stadium by gate six, the pair wed: a first for the venue that has hosted Madonna but never a celebrant marrying a bride and groom.

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The symbolism didn't end with the location that brought them pair together. Underneath Mr Yates' white shirt was a Bulldogs jumper, and warming the legs of his bride was a pair of footy socks: red, white and blue.