Move over, Nicholas Sparks, here comes the love story of the century. An Alberta woman who was at the scene of the Las Vegas mass shooting is now engaged to the man that saved her life. The two are set to tie the knot in the near future but until then, they are madly in love and enjoying every moment together. In September 2017, Las Vegas was the home to a mass shooting where a gunman opened fire on thousands of concertgoers from a nearby hotel room. The shooter killed over 50 people and injured hundreds more. At the scene of the massacre was Alberta native Chantel Melanson, but she wasn’t always meant to be there. During a trip to Sin City, Melanson met her now-fiancé Austin Monfort at a country bar no less than 24 hours before the shooting. In an interview with Narcity, she recounted the traumatic events and how they brought her together with the love of her life. While on her girls' trip, Monfort asked Melanson to meet him the following night at a country music festival that was taking place outside of the Mandalay Bay Hotel. During the concert, tragedy struck when the gunman opened fire. View this post on Instagram Who doesn’t love a good love story? This is mine. October 2017 my love for everything country brought me to Las Vegas with my girlfriends for the Route 91 country festival. A weekend of what I expected to be filled with cowboy boots, country music and country boys turned into a weekend that would mark the rest of this wild journey I call life. Austin and I met at Gilleys the second night of the concert. No one told us that New York New York’s rollercoaster doesn’t run at 3am so we opted for pizza instead. We made plans to meet up on the last day of the festival and I didn’t give it much more thought other than he was cute and we seemed to hit it off. While listening to country music and dancing we soon found ourselves on the ground with gunshots that seemed to be coming from every direction. Austin never left my side that night. Hand in hand and complete strangers we ran across the entire festival grounds trying to escape the gunfire. We found ourselves in a taxi with a wounded spectator. Rushed to the hospital we stayed there into the morning. In the coming days Austin went back to California and I Canada. However that wasn’t the end of friendship and 6 weeks later Austin boarded a flight to Canada. Since then we have not spent more than 6 weeks apart from each other and I wouldn’t have my life any other way✈️💑💕 . . . . . #route91 #love #countrystrong #vegasstrong #lovewins #country #route91strong #strongertogether #myforever #soulmate #tragedytolove #ourlovestory #followforfollow #gilleyslasvegas #countrygirl #countryfestival #instalove #lasvegas #bestlovestory #instagood #route91survivor #route91harvest #buzzfeed #lovestoriesintimates #theknot #howwemet #ellendegeneres #ellendegeneresshow #ldrcouples #likeforlikes @huffpost A post shared by 𝑨𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏 & 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒍 | love blog (@tragedytolove) on Aug 28, 2019 at 4:11pm PDT Feeling a sense of responsibility for his date, Monfort protected her. “It honestly didn’t feel like real life. It happens so fast that you don’t have much time to process,” said Melanson. She remembers being with her date and his friends when the shooting happened. When they began to run out of the festival grounds, they lost all his friends and it was just the two of them. “Austin never left my side that night. Hand in hand as complete strangers we ran across the entire festival grounds trying to escape the gunfire,” wrote Melanson on Instagram. "We found ourselves in a taxi with a wounded spectator. Rushed to the hospital we stayed there into the morning.” The two then parted ways and went back home as their vacations were over, although, they kept in contact. View this post on Instagram FRI•YAY ☀️ . Finally the weekend which means, lounge by the pool with a 🍹, hangout with the hubs and BBQ every night. What are your weekend plans ? . . Can you spot my sister in law 😂? A post shared by 𝑨𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏 & 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒍 | love blog (@tragedytolove) on May 1, 2020 at 6:00pm PDT While it was a heroic gesture, the two didn’t instantly begin dating. They took turns visiting one another as Melanson lived in Canada and Monfort in California. During the first few trips, they were still getting to know one another and figuring out how long-distance dating could work between two different countries. Eventually, Melanson knew he was the one when Monfort met her family and he “fit in so well.” She called this trip perfect. View this post on Instagram Make the best of every situation 💕 May 8th should have been our wedding day👰🏻🤵🏻. Instead we had a perfect dinner date in our backyard. . ⬅️ swipe left . We accidentally surprised each other, while I was in the backyard decorating he left work a few hours earlier to surprise me.🌹 A post shared by 𝑨𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏 & 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒍 | love blog (@tragedytolove) on May 14, 2020 at 5:44pm PDT The two got engaged in March of 2019 at their favourite spot, Laguna Beach. Their wedding was postponed as it was supposed to be held on May 8, 2020, but due to COVID-19, things had to be put on hold. With travel bans still in place, they can't continue to plan their wedding as they're both living in California and Melanson’s family is in Canada. The couple's wild ride has captured the attention of many and rightfully so. They even have a joint Instagram account that shows them madly in love and going on fun adventures in case you needed more evidence as to how these two are the cutest.
