Kate and I met while swiping on Hinge in December 2020. Kate’s pickup quote on the app was “what is your favorite excel shortcut?”. Being a first-year investment banking analyst, I quickly responded with alt+e+s while hers was alt+w+v+g (IYKYK). You could almost say it was love at first formula. We spoke for a few weeks and I finally convinced her to go on a date with me in early January 2021. I picked Kate up in my stylish 2004 Honda Accord with chipped black paint, a broken shifter, and 199 thousand miles. I wanted to take her somewhere fancy so we started at a cocktail bar in the Heights in Houston before our reservation at the nearby Savoir, We had great conversation and began to hit if off over dinner (or at least I thought).

As we parked at Savoir to walk in for our dinner reservation, my work phone rang with a "tonight" task for a deal. Internally I groaned but carved a smile on my face and told my boss "sure", but after my dinner that evening (and definitely not sharing it was a date). Kate and I walked into dinner and ordered the fry trio for our appetizer (which looking back does not sound very tasty) and continued our conversation. I loved her smile and laugh from the moment we met, and she always had something witty to say after one of my quips. Her beautiful eyes sparkled even when I made a horrible pun, and we had a great time getting to know each other at dinner. As we got into my car at around 10pm, I knew I wanted to make a move, but I am not known for smoothness. The console of my car created a meaningful distance to commit to, so I wanted to make sure I wouldn’t be leaning in in vain. I turned to her and said, “so, should we kiss?” Kate laughed, smiled, rolled her eyes, and after a beat she whispered “sure”, and we kissed in my car.

After I drove Kate home I proceeded to work until 3am that morning (while, as it turned out, Kate was vomiting from a gluten poisoning from the mediocre fry trio), only to work an 18 hour day the next day as well. It took until Monday afternoon for me to text Kate again, saying I had an awesome time and would love to go out with her again. A few hours later she responded and said that while she had had a nice time, she was not interested in going out again. I was caught off guard but quickly (though not truthfully) said I agreed and hoped we could potentially be friends down the road (as if that would happen). We didn’t talk again for nine months.

On a Friday around 8pm in October 2021 I was in the elevator headed home from work as I opened Hinge. When the app opened, none other than Kate was the first profile to pop up as my “Most Compatible”. I smiled and laughed because the deal I had been working on the night of our first date had announced that morning, and since I had nothing else going on that evening I decided to text her about the funny coincidence. To my surprise, Kate was exceptionally open to chatting through the night, and we texted each day from then on. After a week I mustered up the courage to ask her on another date, and she (definitely more enthusiastically than the first time) said yes. Our second “first” date was at Kata Robata in November 2021, 10 months after our first. The conversation was easier, and it didn’t hurt that I had upgraded my ride in the preceding months (while I’m sure Kate wouldn’t say that was a factor!). We had a fantastic evening and things began again!

During this second "first date", essentially the first thing I told Kate after sitting down was that I would be leaving Houston for a job in Austin seven months later. While it felt slightly premature in that moment to bring it up, I had a feeling things might go somewhere, even at that early moment. Through a spring of weekends at the Houston Rodeo wine garden, concerts, and quick dinner dates between hours of work, we fell in love! Kate was the kindest, most thoughtful person I had ever met, and it was a privilege that she even wanted to spend time with me. After a month or two of dating, we decided to make our relationship official (though we still disagree on the formal date). Even as it was bittersweet to leave Houston in the summer of 2022, I knew we could make long distance work.

Kate and I dated long distance for nearly three years. Each of us have put in our share (Kate likely a higher share than me) of miles between Austin and Houston, nights exploring breweries in Asheville (Kate will have the wine), and board games at the cabin in Minnesota (I am prone to zone out). Together we have survived COVID while on vacation (I tried to say it was just a sore throat), dropping the ring into a lake (don’t worry I found it), and hundreds of oysters I have hand shucked (so far so good), and we’ve been able to do it while having a ton of fun. We decided to have this wedding in Asheville to show our friends a place we love while also creating just a touch of what it feels like to put the leg work of long distance in, and we love you more for the time and money you are investing to celebrate with us!

If you’ve made it this far in the story, we are so excited to be celebrating with you this weekend. You have played massive parts in our lives and our relationship, and we couldn’t do the next 70 years without you! Thank you for your support - let’s party!