Las Vegas couples detail their love stories ahead of Valentine’s Day — VIDEO

Las Vegas is famed for glitz, gambling and quickie weddings, but residents know both the city and its love stories are much deeper and more nuanced than that.

Some couples here knew each other for years before things turned romantic. Other times, it was love at first sight. And on occasion, ABBA has interceded during the early “Knowing Me, Knowing You” phase of a relationship.

In the weeks before Valentine’s Day, couples shared recollections about how they fell in love. Here are some of their stories.

RIVALS, BUT NOT FOR LONG

Brian Williams met his wife when he was 13 years old, during a “college for kids” class taught by her mother.

At least, that’s his story.

“She’d sit in the back of the room, and on breaks and whatever, we’d go get doughnuts and things like that,” he said. “She kept to herself.”

He called her quiet but interesting.

Rachel Gewelber-Williams recalls it differently, saying she met Brian 1½ years later at a football game at then-Anaheim Stadium.

They were from rival high schools in Southern California but had mutual friends. She was sitting on the rival team’s side when he came over.

“I was smitten with him from the beginning,” she said. “But I had heard great things about him; he was really nice, he was respectful, funny.”

He was an athlete — a swimmer — and his body was sculpted from sports, something of which she happily took note.

“I decided that he would be mine,” Rachel said.

They dated, only he didn’t seem to realize they were dating. She would make sure to sit by him, touch his arm when she talked. No response.

“I was kind of clueless,” Brian explained. “I thought I was going out with my buddies, but she’d always be there. After the third or fourth time, I went, ‘Oh.’”

It wasn’t until she ensured they saw a horror movie together, and she buried her face into him at every scary scene, that he took the hint. They have been a couple ever since and still celebrate the day they decided to go steady.

DRAWN TOGETHER

Although Robin and Jimmy Slonina were both born in Chicago and were involved in the arts scene there, they didn’t meet until they were in Las Vegas. A mutual friend from Chicago contacted Jimmy and asked him if he could get Robin and her mother tickets to see Le Reve, which he was performing in.

On that night, the lead character of the show was out with an injury, so Jimmy played the role. It was Robin’s first time seeing him after hearing rave reviews from her friend.

The following day, Jimmy invited Robin and her mother to a show. Within a few weeks they were inseparable, and Robin decided to stay in Las Vegas after Jimmy invited her to paint a mural in his kitchen.

COURTSHIP AT THE CASINO

For Tony and Shannon Vega, it wasn’t exactly love at first sight.

“We knew each other for about four years before we even thought of dating,” Tony said.

When Tony suggested casually over dinner that they should get married, she reminded him that an actual proposal might be better. He took the hint and popped the question on a dinner cruise on Lake Mead.

“We don’t argue,” Tony said. “We get along great. We’ve both been in other relationships where there’s arguing, but we really enjoy each other’s company.”

“I love being with him,” Shannon said. “I look forward to coming home. I look forward to him coming home. You’ve got to like each other before you get married. You should marry your best friend. He’s my other half. He’s my world.”

EARLY STAGE

Looking at Sarah Lowe’s Claddagh ring, Matt Donnelly noticed something different.

The jewelry, which comes from the Irish tradition to represent love, loyalty and friendship, features a heart in the center. When the point faces outward, it signals that the wearer is single, while pointed inward means taken.

For the five months they’d known each other, Sarah always had it facing outward. When that changed, Matt noticed.

“I didn’t even do it intentionally,” she said. “It just kind of happened. He made a comment about it, and that’s when I noticed it was turned around.”

Though it would be years before they would marry, both said that was a key moment in their love story.

Their first date didn’t go well.

“I was trying to concentrate on what he was saying, but they were playing ABBA in the background,” Sarah said. “I had just finished that show (“Mamma Mia!”), which was a huge accomplishment in my life. It was the first time I had heard any of those songs since I finished the show.”

Sarah kept lip-synching the words of the songs.

“Are you really into this song?” Matt asked. She explained she’d worked on the ABBA-focused “Mamma Mia!”