Something borrowed, something \u2026 Pikachu?<\/p>\n
A Canadian couple who hooked up while playing the widely-popular smartphone game Pok\u00e9mon GO, tied the knot in New Jersey on Friday \u2014 in front of thousands of other players, who\u2019ve flown in from around the globe for this weekend\u2019s Pok\u00e9mon GO Fest<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sandra Maroszek and Les Dorgo from Windsor, Canada, met as they were trying to catch virtual versions of the mysterious, magical beings that grace collectible Pok\u00e9mon cards and populate the beloved Japanese video games, which also inspired an animated series.<\/p>\n Sandra Maroszek and Les Dorgo found each other \u2014 and ultimately love \u2014 playing the popular 2016 game. AP Content Services for Niantic<\/p>\n The happy couple got engaged during the 2024 fest. AP Content Services for Niantic<\/p>\n Members of their families also flew in from Poland and Hungary for the ceremony.<\/p>\n The happy couple has been traveling the world on their vacations \u2014 in search of elusive Pok\u00e9mon.<\/p>\n They travelled to France to catch\u00a0a Klefki<\/a>, and ventured into Florida to get a Maractus<\/a>.<\/p>\n Patrick Scrobe, left, and Thomas Graham, both from Wayne, NJ, neal next to an inflatable Venasaur. The 2025 Jersey City Pok\u00e9mon GO Fest held at Liberty State Park. Aristide Economopoulos<\/p>\n They\u2019ll spend the first couple of days of their honeymoon on the hunt for even more.<\/p>\n More than 100,000 players have invaded Jersey City this year in hopes of catching the imaginary\u00a0creatures.<\/p>\n Pok\u00e9mon GO Fest was held at Randall\u2019s Island last year, and saw players scouring the Big Apple for Pok\u00e9mon GO.<\/p>\n The couple shot their wedding photos at Liberty State Park. AP Content Services for Niantic<\/p>\n Maroszek and Dorgo actually got engaged at last year\u2019s festival, and decided to come full circle by exchanging vows at this year\u2019s event in Liberty State Park.<\/p>\n \u201cPok\u00e9mon GO has quietly become a surprising engine for real-world connection \u2014 combating loneliness, encouraging physical activity, and sparking friendships (and yes, relationships) rooted in shared adventure,\u201d claimed the festival\u2019s organizers in a statement.<\/p>\n Pikachu is escorted out to meet fans at the festival. Aristide Economopoulos<\/p>\n \u201cBut this couple\u2019s journey from strangers to walking down the aisle during GO Fest offers a rare and joyful lens into how connection is evolving outside the swipe-right culture.\u201d<\/p>\n Festival goers will be able to catch characters during the weekend, and explore habitats from the game, recreated inside the park.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Something borrowed, something \u2026 Pikachu? A Canadian couple who hooked up while playing the widely-popular smartphone game Pok\u00e9mon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3162],"tags":[69003,2603,23526,6149,2512,44626,53,16,15,727,1644,3243,3244,672],"class_list":{"0":"post-165558","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-virtual-reality","8":"tag-jersey-city","9":"tag-love","10":"tag-metro","11":"tag-new-jersey","12":"tag-pokemon","13":"tag-pokemon-go","14":"tag-technology","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-us-news","18":"tag-video-games","19":"tag-virtual-reality","20":"tag-vr","21":"tag-weddings"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114643352282683610","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}