Ben & I met in October of 2023 - as so many old school romances start - on Bumble. We never should have matched though - being 100 miles apart, but thankfully Ben was up in Covington, near Cincinnati, which made us connect on the app. From the moment we matched, we never spent a day where we didn't talk and quickly wanted to be in each other's lives.

We had our first date in November 2023 at Music Hall in Cincinnati after dinner at Via Vita on Fountain Square. Ben bought tickets to an opera there in an attempt to impress Emily, and it was TERRIBLE. Thinking the performance was over, we walked out only to realize there were still two more acts to follow. Ben made the decision (much to Emily's relief) to leave the show, and instead go to the bar across the street to get a drink over more conversation.

Over that Fall & Winter, we fell in love over Italian food, getting Ben hooked on wine, and Ben giving Emily never ending facts and stories of history.

Bringing us together was clearly in God's plan, because with our busy lives, nothing else made sense. Ben was in his final year of graduate school at Vanderbilt University getting his PhD in Educational Policy, which took him to Nashville every other weekend for class, and kept him up just about every night in between writing his dissertation.

Emily was on an insane work project which brought more travel in four months than she had done previously in years combined for her job. Taking 19 trips all over the States and to nine countries - somehow we still found a way to make each other the priority.

Distance really did make the heart grow fonder for us, and our communication skills being long distance, quickly had to figure the other one out. From a crazy legislative session for Ben, meeting our families, the 150th Kentucky Derby, Ben's Vanderbilt graduation, and Emily's biggest work project of her career, we quickly saw if we can get through that with joy and grace for each other - we can get through anything.

Over Memorial Day weekend 2024, Ben told me we were going to Washington DC for a trip he planned for us. I was hoping for a proposal, but was truly shocked when we ended up in Virginia at a quaint quiet winery - Barboursville - instead of in DC. Ben insisted we walk to dinner that night, despite me protesting that we should drive because I wanted to wear heels. Ben won this one, and I put on sandals. The walk quickly proved to be problematic as we ran into a herd of bulls in the road. Ben froze, I screamed, and somehow we got out of it unscathed. When we arrived to dinner, Ben told me we were having breakfast in this spot the next morning, which really confused me as we had a whole spread in our fridge the staff made for us. Ben was insistent we had to come to breakfast here, and frustrated me at dinner when he was on his phone.

That next morning we went to what I thought was breakfast - and it was there (without food) that Ben got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It turns out, at dinner the night before he was texting the photographer he had booked to capture our proposal as to where he was going to do it on the property.

Wedding planning has been a WHIRLWIND but we could not be happier to enter into our marriage, and to spend this season planning and celebrating with family and friends as we soak in marriage advice and combine our worlds.