Woman travels 5,000 miles to meet and marry her TikTok crush

It all began in January 2021 when the 30-year-old Melissa went through a breakup with a former partner.

“I then got into the lesbian world of TikTok. I saw Stacie come up while just scrolling through,” Melissa, a former health care worker said. “I was instantly drawn to her, I thought she was beautiful.”

“Before I even spoke to Stacie, I saved her videos and put them on my Instagram story saying I was going to marry her — she didn’t even know I existed,” Melissa added, admitting that “if you look back on it now it’s a little creepy.”

Stacie — a project manager who was in a relationship when Melissa discovered her — recalled another time her No. 1 fan was rather forward with romantic intentions.

“One time, she said ‘remember my name, you’re going to marry me’. I just shrugged it off like ‘who is this person in my live ?’ ” Stacie said.

By April of last year, the two had become single and very ready to mingle with one another — but distance kept their relationship virtual.

“Then once we Facetimed each other, for me, it was love at first sight the minute I saw her,” Stacie said. “We spoke almost every night and her schedule worked out because she worked shifts. We chatted all the time for months and I would go online to see if the borders were open,” since travel to America was still in a restricted state from Europe at the time.

The couple found ways to rendezvous despite the pandemic though. They both agreed to take a trip to Cancun, Mexico, for their first encounter in early August — one that Stacie was ready to make life changing.

“I already bought the ring before I even went to Mexico because there was a connection, but it’s different once you have someone in front of you . . . You have to see if that connection is there and it was,” she said, adding that they “got caught up in the moment and thought everything was pointing in [their] direction to do it.”

So, on their second day together and after a beautiful beach proposal with a poetic message inside a sand-filled bottle, Melissa jovially agreed not only to be Stacie’s bride, but to also travel back to her South Carolina.

“I had a flight booked back to the UK but I didn’t get on it,” Melissa said, noting that England had also put a travel ban in place that restricted flights from Mexico.

After arriving to the southern home sweet home, naturally, Stacie’s two roommates had many questions.

“They asked when we’d get married. We just looked at each other and said ‘Saturday,’ ” Melissa told her fiancée’s besties, who “ran around from Monday to Saturday to make it really nice” on the back porch where they officially tied the knot — two weeks after meeting.

But Melissa’s family across the pond wasn’t so keen on the sudden, small ceremony that they couldn’t attend.

“I called my mum two days before the wedding to say ‘Mum, I need to tell you something.’ I told her I was getting married . . . She was upset at first. I’m an only child so I can understand why, she just wanted to be there,” she said. “It came as a huge shock to [her family], they weren’t overly happy at first.”

“It went from ‘I’m just going on holiday with someone I’ve never met’ to ‘while I was on holiday, I got engaged,’ then ‘I’m not coming back from holiday — I’m going straight to America.’ “

A month later, Melissa — who said she and Stacie would do a vow renewal in England — was able to fly Stacie to the United Kingdom so she could finally meet the family and sell her Norfolk home.

“I only had the stuff I took to Mexico,” Melissa said about her impromptu time in South Carolina.

Now, Stacie and Melissa are living in Fort Mill, South Carolina, with their two pups Vincent and Luna.

“We’ve remodeled all our house and we’re settling into married life really,” Melissa said. “We want to have children, that’s hopefully the next thing on the agenda.”