Doing Valentine's Day the nerdy way

"An Affair to Remember."

"Sleepless in Seattle."

"The Bridges of Madison County."

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II."

One of these is not like the other, and that's just how I like it - my wife-to-be and I aren't into typical Valentine's Day routines, nor are we fans of typical romantic movies.

We had our first date at a late-night showing of the boy wizard's final adventure. I did not muster the courage to hold her hand whilst wearing plastic 3-D glasses and sitting in motion-simulator seats, though I certainly wanted to when Nymphadora Tonks (Natalie Tena) and Professor Lupin (David Thewlis) reached for each other just before meeting their doom.

My fiancee spent most of the next month introducing me to "Doctor Who" by way of the frightfully romantic fifth series starring Matt Smith and Karen Gillan. A 13-episode run that begins with a giant sentient eyeball and a flying space whale ends with a beautiful wedding and, in the real world, a crying suburban couple on the couch. (I was holding her hand by then.)

Our weekends seldom consist of dressed-up dinners or cool cocktail parties. Lately they've entailed a lot of tearful viewings of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and singing along to old videos of Freddie Mercury. They say you should marry your best friend, and I'm pretty sure they're right.

So here's to those of us valentines who shop at Hot Topic instead of Pandora, and who think a "Family Guy" marathon might be a perfect way to spend a romantic Sunday. And here's to the rest of you, too - may you spend the day doing something you love with someone you love, yourself included.

• Sean Stangland is a Daily Herald multiplatform editor. You can follow him on Twitter at @SeanStanglandDH.