We met in the fall of 2005 at the University of Colorado. Although we knew each other, and became social media friends on Facebook and Instagram, we were never particularly close during college.

After graduating, Ariel went on to live in Denver, San Francisco and Los Angeles, while Michael lived in Chicago, Portland and Los Angeles.

We watched each others lives play out on social media for nearly two decades before Michael ended up in Denver on a work trip and Ariel couldn't resist his Bumble profile.

Upon receiving notification of Ariel's right swipe, Michael was immediately excited as unbeknownst to Ariel he had had a crush on her for a long time. Unfortunately he was leaving in the morning and we weren't able to meet up on that trip.

The following week Michael made a return trip to Denver to take Ariel out on our first date, February 4, 2022. The next weekend, which was Valentine's Day, Ariel flew to Chicago. By that weekend, our second together, we knew this was something special.

The only thing left to do was see how we traveled together. So it was during that second weekend that we decided to plan an international trip. Travel is a big part of both of our lives, and if we traveled well together, there'd be no turning back.

Three months later we were in Portugal having the time of our lives. We said I love you for the first time on that trip and there was no turning back.

After a year and a half of long distance dating Ariel moved to Chicago and a few months after that Michael proposed to Ariel under the northern lights.

We feel so lucky to have found each other and that the courses of our lives brought us back together. Now we are looking foward to starting our lives together as husband and wife surrounded by our closest family back where we first met 20 years ago, Boulder, CO.