People of Georgian: Musical connection leads to grad’s whirlwind wedding

What’s your story?

The Georgian community is full of unique, inspiring perspectives —and we’re sharing them as part of an ongoing series.

People of Georgian: Meet Matias Contreras Perez

I first came to Canada to attend my sister’s wedding in Barrie, and I fell in love with the country.

After that I decided to move here.

Back in Chile, I had been saving money to buy a house, but when I came to Canada, I changed my priorities. I put all my hard-earned savings into Canada.

A person sits on a rock next to a fast-moving river in the woods.

On the road to Canadian citizenship

So many things have happened since then.

I recently got married to a woman I first met in high school and who also studied abroad.

My mother is here as a permanent resident, and I expect to get my Canadian citizenship this year as well.

After high school, my wife and I didn’t see each other for about eight years before we reconnected. It was an instant connection.

Two people in a selfie where one of them is pointing toward a building behind them. — *Matias and his wife.*

A proposal by fireworks

I proposed to her in Niagara Falls.

We had lunch in a restaurant with a view of the falls. Then, at night, we took this little boat, the one that goes to the base of the Falls, when the water was all lit up with colourful lights and there was a fireworks display.

That’s the moment I proposed.

Then the wedding happened just a few weeks later.

Two adults, wearing a suit and wedding dress, respectively, pose in front of a lake with their arms around each other. — *Matias and his wife on their wedding day.*

I had many members of my family visiting from Chile for the first time, so we thought that would be the best time to get married. It was a spontaneous decision. We’re planning to have a big event in Chile to celebrate our wedding early next year.

One of the things I’m most passionate about – music – is also what brought us together in the first place.

I was in a punk rock band in high school when I met my future wife.

I was performing at a school anniversary show, and she came in, we met, and that was that.

Later on in Chile, I was a busker playing with my friends on the streets to get some money for travel.

When I was in university in Chile, I used to play in a rock band, so we’d play in bars and other venues, or even sometimes be the opener for big artists from other countries who were performing there.

A person wearing a suit stands at the front of a room of people and speaks into a microphone. — *Matias is a Georgian alumnus and International Recruitment Office – Offshore.*

Music ‘makes me feel free’

I grew up around music.

My father plays guitar and sings. My sister has played the violin since she was nine years old and now plays in an orchestra.

My aunts sing and my cousins play piano.

I used to play the clarinet when I was a little boy until I found rock music and swapped the clarinet for an electric guitar. I also play bass guitar, ukulele, and hand drum, which is shaped like a turtle shell and you play with your fingers.

Music is everything; I couldn’t live without it. It makes me feel free.

Matias Contreras Perez, International Recruitment Officer – Offshore and alumnus of two Georgian programs: English for Academic Purposes and Human Resources Management.