Theirs is a love story that began as a slow simmer.

Collen Newberry and Bridget Meyer met on the set of a commercial 15 years ago. Both worked in the entertainment industry in Seattle: Newberry as a grip (camera rigger) and Meyer as a chef and caterer. They immediately became work friends and kept it professional, working on various projects in the entertainment industry.

“We were both married at the time, but the relationships weren’t a good fit,” explained Newberry. “I really liked her as a person. It was fun to talk about food, so that was a common connection. As time progressed, I would look forward to seeing her on set when she’d have our lunch ready. It was all innocent. I remember thinking that maybe I had feelings for her, and I was concerned about that.”

Added Meyer: “I knew he was the one for me by the way he hugged me. It’s the kind of embrace I always knew I wanted in my life.”

This went on for four years — the two would work on the same set, chat and leave it at that. Neither knew the other person was developing feelings for the other. Until the day Meyer let it slip.

“When we would get a call sheet with a crew list, we’d joke about who would be our ‘Boyfriend for the day.’ For years, everyone knew that if Collen was on the list, then he was my BFD. When I finally told him this, he admitted that he had a crush on me,” Meyer said.

Newberry remembers that moment being “the first feeling of excitement and passion and realizing it was something deeper than a friendship.”

Although it was a revelatory day, nothing came of it for a few weeks as both tried to deny their mutual feelings of attraction. Then, they saw each other on another commercial set.

“I was so excited to see him,” Meyer said. “I told a coworker, ‘I think I am in love with Collen Newberry. I can’t lie anymore to myself.’”

The connection between the two was intense and palpable. After initially turning him down for a walk over Halloween weekend, Meyer changed her mind.

“I feared birds from an experience I had with a raven years ago. My friend took me to an animal sanctuary, and I was with all of these birds. I faced my fears. On my way home, I called him and said, ‘Ok, let’s go.’”

On the way to their date, Newberry stopped to buy a coat — and he still has that jean jacket.

“I like to wear it and think of that day. It’s pretty threadbare now,” he laughed.

The two went for a walk and sat on a bench to decide their next steps. They agreed that they would absolutely not have an affair and decided to end their marriages. Within 24 hours, Newberry and Meyer had moved out of their homes.

“We basically blew up our lives,” he said.

From that moment on, the two have been inseparable. They began their relationship with chaos: contentious divorces, establishing custody agreements and the birth of their daughter, Poppy, two years in. Newberry’s son Louis is now 24 and his daughter Ginger is 22. Meyer’s daughter Iris is 19.

“With Poppy, we had our love child, and she really brought our families together. She was icing on the cake,” Meyer said.

Newberry says their ability to face adversity has strengthened their bond.

“As love is, you have this amazing new relationship feeling. And we were able to harvest that during the hard times over the next tumultuous years and a complicated family situation,” Newberry said. “It feels so good to be on the other side of it. Now we can face anything together. As we’ve gotten older, our philosophy has become that we choose every day to be together. We made such a hard choice at the beginning of our relationship that we are realistic about it and consciously own it. It’s not based on anything other thing than our hearts.”

The two married in 2014 after five years together when Poppy was a toddler. In 2017, they bought a farmhouse in Deer Harbor and moved to the island full-time in 2020. They still commute for short periods to Seattle, where Meyer is a food stylist and Newberry is a key grip, someone who shapes and diffuses light and rigs cameras.

But their hearts are on the farm with Poppy, who is home-schooled, and their 10 goats, chickens, a duck, cats, a dog and a foal. The couple has breathed new life into their 1891 farmhouse, which was originally the home of Henry Cayou’s daughter.

“We have built a yurt and sauna, fenced the whole place and built a goat and horse shed,” Meyer said. “We’ve brought animals back to the property and brought the garden back to life. We’ve found a lot of cool artifacts that were buried garbage. People did things a little differently before there was the Exchange!”

They named their property Newmeyer Farmhouse and have plans to welcome farm stays, goat walks, chef dinners and photo and video shoots in the future.

Meyer says she is happiest with her husband when lying with him in front of the fire, listening to music and snuggling.

“I love his passion for music. He has a playlist for every month, every season. He has playlisted our whole life, and it’s very special to me,” she said. “I also like to watch Collen out in the world interacting with other people because he is such an enthusiastic listener and so present. That is how I feel all the time as his partner, and I love to see him do that for other people. I feel lucky I get to be with him every day, and what a blessing that is for my life.”

The two are soon embarking on a two-week trip to Vietnam for a long-awaited honeymoon and to celebrate 15 years together.

“As Esther Perel said, one of the things you need to keep your experience fresh is doing new things together,” Newberry said. “We work out together, we do Wordle and Connections puzzles and we do a lot of karaoke in our house. I feel a deeper sense of connection in those moments with her. It sends me back to the beginning of our relationship with that passion I still have for her.”

Newberry says the most surprising part of their life together is that it “keeps getting better.”

“I continue to feel more in love with Bridget and more drawn to her,” he said.

Added Meyer: “Everything we want to do, we make it happen together. Our algorithm works together. I am so excited for what’s next.”

Poppy, who is now 12, had this to say about her parents: “They like to talk a lot, and sometimes, if they start kissing, I have to run away. They like to do stuff together. They are in love and kind of obsessed with each other. It’s like they haven’t been married for a long time even though they have.”