A 5ft 9in woman, towering over her fiancé, says the couple are constantly “stopped in the street” because of their unusual height difference.
New York couple Samantha ‘Sam’ Espinal, 24, and Stephen Di Fede, 32, don’t get a second look when they sit together.
But the engaged duo regularly gets remarks, looks and stops when they stand side by side because Sam is 15cm taller than her 5ft 3in fiancé.
People even stop and congratulate him on landing a big woman.
The couple admit it took them both some time to adjust to their size difference as men are taller than women.
But now they claim they don’t even notice and encourage others to open up to people of all sizes.
A 5ft 9in woman, towering over her fiancé, says the couple are constantly “stopped in the street” because of their unusual height difference
New York-based couple Samantha “Sam” Espinal, 24, and Stephen Di Fede, 32, insist they “don’t notice” their six-inch height difference, although they admit it “disturbed” them at first
Event planner Sam says she never thought she could date a shorter man – but she didn’t notice the size difference anymore once she “fell in love” with Stephen
Sam warned that “rejecting people because of their height can mean missing out on someone who could be your soul mate”.
The content creator and event planner said: “I always thought I could never date someone smaller than me.
“In the beginning, the difference in altitude bothered me a bit. I couldn’t imagine myself agreeing with that.
“People stopped us in the street to congratulate Stephen on dating a taller woman – it felt a little weird.
“But when I fell in love, it just went away. I just stopped thinking about it.
“Now I can see that people miss out on relationships a thousand percent because they exclude people because of their size.”
Stephen, a content creator and dancer, added: “I always expected to have to date people taller than me – if I just stuck with smaller women I would have a very small group to choose from.
“In a funny way it brings the humor to our relationship – like I literally can’t reach something high up.
“Other than making fun and laughing on social media, we don’t really think about it.”
Sam and Stephen met through work in October 2016 when she was doing an internship at the school where he worked as a teacher.
Sam originally thought she could never date anyone shorter than herself – but eventually found herself attracted to Stephen.
Sam now warns others that “dismissing people because of their size can make you miss out on someone who could be your soul mate”.
The couple started dating in February 2017 – and Sam says it came as a “shock to her when they started dating” because she had always thought she could never date anyone shorter than her
Stephen proposed to Sam in November 2022, getting on one knee in front of a beautiful New York sunset
They started dating properly in February 2017. The pair became official the following September.
Sam initially said she told Stephen she didn’t know if she could move on in a relationship – but her mind eventually changed.
Sam said: “When we got together it was a shock to me and it took me a while to get used to it.
“I started to fit in pretty quickly the more I started falling in love. It didn’t bother me anymore and I stopped thinking about it.
“I was insecure wearing heels around Stephen because I didn’t want to appear any taller than him.”
But Stephen said the height difference was “not a big deal” to him.
He added: “I’ve been short all my life so most women are taller than me. I came to terms with that a long time ago.’
It’s now rare for Stephen and Sam to notice or be affected by the difference in height – because it’s their norm.
They regularly post on TikTok and joke about the elevation difference to normalize it.
Stephen said it actually brings humor to the relationship and allows them to poke fun at each other – like when Sam has to get something for him off a high shelf.
But he said it was just “funny” for them – and other than that “they don’t really think about it”.
Sam and Stephen have managed to find the humor in their height difference — even poke fun at themselves in tongue-in-cheek TikTok interviews
Stephen said it actually brings humor to the relationship and allows them to poke fun at each other – like when Sam has to get something for him off a high shelf
The couple post entertaining videos about their height difference to try to normalize it for other people
The couple got engaged in November 2022 after Stephen got down on one knee – and they plan to wed later this year.
Sam revealed she won’t be wearing heels to the wedding – although that has nothing to do with size.
Stephen said: “I really love it when she wears heels. I’m like, ‘Wow, damn, that’s a lot of beautiful woman.”
But Sam added: “I always wanted to be barefoot at my wedding, even before I met Stephen.”
Now the two are sharing their relationship to show people that height differences shouldn’t matter.
They say one of their TikTok followers reached out to tell them their videos convinced them to try a guy shorter than them – and now they’re engaged.
Stephen and Sam warned others they could miss out on their perfect match by being ruled out too soon due to height differences.
“You need physical attraction to someone, but if you like everything but their size and you shut them out, you might be missing out on something great,” Stephen explained.
“When you automatically disqualify people, you limit your potential.”
Sam said: “People miss it a thousand percent when they exclude people because of their size.
“If people just let their guard down and let themselves be attracted to someone they think they might like, it would be so much easier to find love. The way you connect with someone is so important – personality is what matters most.”