Nashville is a city full of dreamers pursing goals in every field you can think of. On August 2010 the city welcomed two new dreamers…US! Eric longed to attend the prestigious Vanderbilt University and then pursue law, Lauren loved the idea of attending Belmont University and living in a city full of music to combine her love of children and music into a career. After 4 years of hard work these plans started to become reality, but little did we know this city had bigger plans for us yet.

In September 2014, Eric had just begun his first few weeks of law school at Vanderbilt, and Lauren had just entered her first year of teaching elementary music in Franklin. It was in this season of change that we first met one another online. After a full 9 months of chatting on and off and building a great virtual friendship we decided to meet. Our first “Not Date” (as Lauren calls it) was in May 2015 at The Row, a midtown Nashville pub with live music and, as we discovered that night, the best fried pickles in middle Tennessee. We followed our meal with drinks at Union Common, a swanky art deco bar just a block down the street. Sitting on that bar stool next to her, smiling and laughing, Eric realized that he just had to see this girl again and Lauren went home and told her roommates she “could totally marry a guy like Eric”.

Eric and Lauren took things at a slow pace at first. We continued to meet for weekly dinners as friends. In November we went on our first real date at Old Spaghetti Factory, and began “going steady,” as the old-timers would say, in January 2016. By July 2016, we realized that they were in love. We have been inseparable ever since, through law school and weddings of loved ones, through graduations and new jobs, and the occasional struggles that have strengthened our bond.

On July 19, 2020—four years, six months, and 2 days after it first began—Eric took Lauren on a surprise scavenger hunt to many of the places that had been so important to us over the years: our first meal together at the Row and Union Common, our first real date at the Old Spaghetti Factory, a picnic at the Parthenon, Lauren’s old rental at Grassland Estates, a karaoke dive bar called The Other Place, the wedding venue of Lauren’s bridesmaid Brittany (where Lauren first told Eric she loved him), and finally a Victoiran gazebo at Lauren’s alma mater: Belmont University. As you may have guessed “She said yes!”

You can check out the whole engagement in the video below!

We are excited to start the next chapter of our lives together and are thrilled to be joined by all of our friends and family on our wedding day. While this may be the story of us we would not be anywhere without the love and support of each and every one of you. So grab your boots and pack your bags, Nashville is calling!

Check out our Engagement Scavenger Hunt here