Whenever strangers ask me how we met, I say ‘we were sky diving and locked eyes from across the sky, grabbed hands & parachuted down to earth.’ It sounds much more exciting than ‘we met online.’

But honestly, it’s not how we met that matters to me. It’s THAT we met. After all these years of looking for my person, here he was, in South Philly, drinking IPAs, dating all the wrong women. I believe timing is everything and our timing was perfect.

We matched on Hinge, and I sent the first message. I was intrigued by this 6’3 bearded man with long hair who loved music, cars, dogs, and wanted to travel to Europe and Asia. So I met him for a drink at Royal Boucherie 2.1.2022. I arrived early (pause for shock factor) and went up the staircase to the restrooms to check my hair & makeup. When I walked down, there he was sitting at the bar looking quite dapper with a sweater and jeans, nice shoes and donning a baby blue bandana. (Little did I know that this would the first of many, many, many bandanas)

Our conversation was effortless and the night ended with a little whiskey tasting and this sweet man walking me to my Uber. I told him I was going rock climbing on Sunday & to text me if he was interested in going.

3 days go by and I finally get a message saying ‘I hope parent-teacher conferences went well. I hope you have fun at girls night. Are we still on for rock climbing Sunday?’ I thought -Wow, this man listens. (I also come to find out his buddies told him not to be so eager, wait a few days, play it cool)

Date 2: rock climbing- let’s just say his butt looked great in a climbing harness

Date 3: Ice skating @ Penn’s Landing. We held hands skating & snuggled up in the lodge for drinks. I was an impressive skater and wowed him with my skills. I only fell once - naturally it was during a triple axel, double spiral, half jump with a twist. I almost landed it but you can’t be perfect every time.

The night ended with this stud muffin walking me to my Uber & we had our first kiss. Cue the sigh & butterflies.

Date 4: He invited me to Devil’s Den because this man has a bleeding heart and was hosting Puppy Bowl with Morris Animal Rescue. It was not hard to convince me to go. There would be dogs. In a bar.

When I walked in, I spotted the bandana man immediately and he introduced me to his friends. Naturally, I asked the important question- does he wear this bandana all the time? The short answer- yes.

Later, we all walked back to Justin’s and watched the Superbowl and the topic of French braiding Justin’s hair came up.

Let me paint you a picture- this 6’3 man is shaking his hair out like Fabio and just showed me he’s the ultimate animal lover. He is pouring me wine and smiling with his big brown eyes. Needless to say… I’m swooning.

The game ended and his friends left & we turn the Olympics on. Of course, it’s ice skating. We proceeded to show off our wildly entertaining moves, skating on hard wood floors in our socks and giggling as we’re spinning round and round the room. He twirled me around, pulled me in, hugged me tightly and kissed my forehead. It was in that moment that I knew.

I read a quote once that said ‘I don’t want to be crazy in love. I want to be calm in love.’ I felt that feeling of calm love.

So here we are… 2 years later…. We’ve traveled, we’ve laughed, we’ve cried, & we’ve grown as a couple. We had talked about our wedding prior to getting engaged & we agreed that it was important to both of us to celebrate our love with all of our friends and family by our side.

We hope you can come to our wedding celebration and make a forever memory with us as we start our lives together.