As many people here know, we met the same way as the majority of couples nowadays, through a dating app. Brian approached me speaking Portuguese, trying to impress me with his vocabulary and this caught my interest. As if I didn't know he was using Google Translate...

We talked for two weeks before finally meeting in person. At that time, I was living in Arlington, Virginia and he was living in Ellicott City, Maryland. He invited me to dinner, but I already had plans with some friends, so I invited him to join us. I thought he would have brought some friends to make the situation less awkward, but no, he came alone. We talked throughout the whole night while Brian enjoyed double Orange Crushes, one of his favorite drinks. I guess he was nervous being the only guy surrounded by 4 Brazilians.

Two fun facts about that night: Brian didn't remember we had kissed at the end of the night and it was his most expensive uber ride ever, from DC to Maryland at 2 AM.

And everything went well from that day, we never stopped talking. We would make trips to each other's state every weekend to be with each other, not missing one single opportunity to spend time together.

After going back and forth for 6 months, we moved in together in Elkridge, MD, our first place we were able to call our home. Living together we have faced some challenges, especially being from different cultures. However, our love, patience and desire to be with each other, was always bigger and stronger.

In March 2022, we decided to make it official and we got married. We were dating for 11 months.

A fun fact about it is that in the beginning, Brian used to say: "Marrying someone after dating for 2 years is TOO fast." Well, I guess he made up his mind and didn't want to lose me. How crazy could he be, right??

We changed jobs, moved to Virginia, traveled, adopted 2 cats to start our family... we accomplished so many things, learned how to manage our differences.. as we continue to build our future.

Now, we are beyond thrilled to be able to celebrate our wedding with our friends and family! It is going to be an incredible moment and we can't wait for it!