If you ask Aileen:

When I moved to Greenville, like most other decisions in my life, it was driven by my career. I spent a good part of my time on the road (still do), and often had clients and friends ask me "why are you single" or "how come you're not dating" to which I would usually reply, "have you met me? I'm a pain in the ass." People often suggested dating apps, but I was wholeheartedly against it. As cynical as I can be, I always had this idea of what a love story should be. It should be like my parents who met through a friend, got engaged in Paris, and raised a beautiful family. Not "oh yeah, we met online."

After a couple of years though, I realized that on the rare occasion I did meet someone, it was usually someone far away and conversation typically fizzled relatively quickly. On the other hand, I could meet someone here in Greenville, but to be honest I didn't find the 12am bar crowd all that impressive (shocking, I know.)

So after some convincing, I begrudgingly got online. One of the first comments I got was from this guy, who scored points for immediately noticing that I drink old fashioneds. I scrolled through his page. The guys name was Jonny. He had a cute dog, a lot of friends, was 5'8", which I let go due to a desire to meet the dog, and wasn't divorced. I mean, the dude seemed pretty clean. Here's the thing though, he was very openly Catholic. Now, on paper, thats great. I want someone who matches my values, and I'm Catholic, but he was VERY Catholic. Like latin in his instagram bio Catholic, like he might be weird and not know how to have fun Catholic. So I did what any girl would do. I called my cousin, and matron of honor (Hailey) and told her that this guy asked me on a date, but that I wasn't totally sure because "he might be weird". After some conversation, she convinced me to just go, because I need to get out there. So, bearing that in mind, along with the fact that he offered to get sushi, I agreed.

Don't tell him I said this, but it was honestly the best first date ever. He was a total gentleman. He opened doors, picked me up, and bought dinner. Conversation was great. We were shocked at how much we had in common, and we ended up sitting in his truck talking for hours at the end of the night. After he dropped me off, we ended up hanging out multiple times that week, and became pretty much inseparable.

It didn't take long for us to realize that this was going to be pretty serious. Jonny started asking about marriage around the 6 month mark, which didn't scare me as much as it probably should have (lol). Truthfully, everything felt very natural. He ended up proposing about a year after we met, and did it in the most amazing way possible. We went to Scotland and he planned the whole day, complete with a proposal above Edinburgh, a brunch, sightseeing, and an amazing dinner. I am so fortunate to have met him, and can't wait to see what the future has to hold.

If you ask Jonny:

I moved to Greenville, shortly after my conversion to Catholicism in 2023. Initially, I was trying to discern if the Lord wanted me to join the priesthood but it didn't take long until I felt like God was pulling me towards this beautiful sacrament called marriage. Once I felt this pull part of my job was to understand what marriage truly was. The other part was to, well..... date.

I honestly found reading about what marriage is meant to be and looking at examples of perfect marriages - Christ and His Church, Mary and Joseph, etc more fun than actually dating. I was getting to the point where I was about to take a break from it for a while because it was pretty discouraging, however I remember opening up Hinge one day and seeing this beautiful woman and her dog. Now I saw her on a dating app (shoutout Hinge) and realized I had to say something clever to get her attention, so I said something clever about her drinking an old fashioned in her photo (aka I spit mad game). After some conversation I decided to take her on a date. Keep in mind - this was big for me because I hadn't actually taken a girl "on a date" to get food in a long time. To be honest, I didn't want to spend the money if I didn't see the potential. However, I did with Aileen and so I took her to get sushi.

I'll never forget that day because I drove to her apartment to pick her up and here I was expecting to get a very warm welcome with a splash of excitement about our date. However, I didn't get that. Aileen walked out with the straightest face as if she was annoyed. I quickly realized that is just "Aileen's face". There are a handful of days I can remember like it was yesterday and this date was one of them. We had the most beautiful conversation during dinner and even after. We sat in my truck for hours talking, it ending with me asking - "so what are you wanting out of dating" (lol).

Time went on and after deep prayer I quickly realized that this was the woman Christ called me to be with. Another day I will never forget is the day I realized I loved Aileen. If you'd like to know that please find me at the wedding. Aileen is the most fierce, kind, and loving woman I have ever met. If it wasn't for her "4 seasons policy" I would have proposed sooner.

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