Wes's Story:

I moved down to Tennessee in the Fall of 2018 for a new job. I had tried online dating before and had yet to meet the one. In fact, I met some people who not only weren't the one but didn't even look like the one I was trying to meet when they showed up. In the Summer of 2019 I received a "like" and a "comment" on me admitting I'm 5' 11'' not six foot in the dating app. I thought that was a good start and we chatted for a while. We eventually decided to meet up. For work, I had to wear a suit and our date was about an hour after work. I drove all the way home and decided to wear my suit anyways. She showed up in scrubs...after 10 minutes into the date, she got an "emergency call" from one of her friends which made me think she was about to escape out of the bathroom window. It ended up that it actually was an emergency but she stayed. We continued our date and talked about both our family's potential crime histories. After another hour of talking, I knew I wanted to see her again, especially after learning of her love for instant pots.

Emilee's Story:

Wes and I first met on the dating app, Hinge. I started online dating after graduating from college. I had gone on a few dates with guys from a couple of different dating apps. They always said that they were taller than me (between 5’7” and 5’11”). However, once I met them on our date, they would always be shorter than me! I’m only 5’2”! Being lied to right off the bat is a big red flag for me, so of course, none were progressing past the first date. By the time I went out with a third guy that ended up this way, I was done with online dating. However, my friend recommended that I try out the new app, Hinge. I reluctantly made my new profile and started looking for guys that had similar interests. I came across Wes’s profile almost immediately. The pictures that people use are what draw you to their profile. However, Wes’s pictures aren’t what drew me in. I mean, he didn’t have the best pictures. You could only tell what he looked like in the first photo. After that, it was either a photo of his back while he was ax throwing, with a large group of people, or a dark and blurry photo. What caught my eye were our similar interests and the questions he answered in his bio. As I said before, I had my fair share of looking over my date's head. Wes said in his bio: “You know I am telling the truth about my height because I am 5’11” and a half. I could round up to 6’0”, but I rounded down to 5’11”.” After the experience I had, I knew I had to match with him! I responded to him with my story, and we chatted a few days before he set a date for us to meet. Our first date was at M.L. Rose, which is a burger bar. After much deliberating, I decided to show up in my scrubs because I was tired of getting dressed up just to be disappointed all over again. After all, I already went on three bad dates. (I know it is not a lot, but I am a stubborn person and was tired of seeing the same story unfold every time.) I showed up 20 minutes late due to work. Then, I was probably an extra 10 minutes late because I was SO nervous that my mom had to calm me down over the phone while I sat outside the restaurant. Even though I was still very nervous, she was able to help me get enough courage to walk into the restaurant. I’ll never forget what she said: “Walk in there because you could be meeting your future husband.” I said to her, “Yeah, that’s a lot of pressure to put on a date with some guy that I met online.” But boy am I glad that I was wrong. The moment I saw him, I knew that I was done looking for my person. It felt like a rush of excitement and relief at the same time. No one has ever been able to calm my nerves like that before, so I knew I found someone special. We sat next to a large speaker, so it was hard to hear each other. Even so, the conversation flowed easily. Before I knew it, it had already been two hours. By the time the date was over, I was excited to hear from him again. I am so glad that we found each other that night.