Kelley and Charles met in November 2016 in Austin. Charles will never forget his first glimpse of Kelley as she ascended the staircase at Swift’s Attic, the venue Kelley picked after scrapping Charles’s suggestions. Hours flew past as they got to know each other. But life soon took them in different directions.

So, Charles was pleasantly surprised when, three years later, Kelley texted him out of the blue. Of course he wanted to catch up (though it was his turn to pick the spot!). The two hit it off anew. The only problem was that Charles had just taken a job in Los Angeles and was moving in three months. The solution might’ve seemed risky: weeks after reconnecting, Kelley and Charles decided to move to LA together. To them, it was a no-brainer.

If a couple wanted to pressure test their budding love, moving across the country together to a city where they knew no one might be a good place to start. Promptly being quarantined in their apartment for months on end?—that’s something else. But through good times and bad, riots, wildfires, and occasional escapes to the SoCal mountains, Kelley and Charles’s bond only grew stronger.

Charles proposed a few days before Christmas 2021 at their favorite LA restaurant. The place had called to say they were short-staffed and wouldn’t be serving drinks from the bar; Kelley thought something was up when Charles took this news in stride. Even still, it took Charles long enough to work up to it that Kelley wondered whether she’d misread the situation. He finally got there after dessert, and she said yes.

Soon after, Kelley and Charles returned home to Austin.

They can hardly wait to make it official this September and celebrate with you all.