Daniel moved from Florida to Savannah, Georgia, for a new job three years ago, and Miranda moved to Hilton Head Island for work eight years ago, also from Florida. Despite growing up just 11 miles apart in Florida, we had never met. But Tinder, which doesn't stop at state lines, brought us together. We only lived 20 miles apart as the crow flies. Without hesitation, we both swiped right.
Daniel being the charming and observant person noticed UCF on the profile of this pretty girl and used that as his foot in the door. With our shared love for Florida, the beginning chats were easy and natural. Miranda agreed to meet in Savannah at a local rooftop bar (where we later took photos in the exact same seats for our engagement photos). While waiting for her to show up, Daniel revealed that he was no longer clean-shaven but had grown a beard. As you can see in many of our pictures, he still has a beard, so it was clearly the right move.
It was easy to spot Miranda, as she was still wearing her name tag to our first date. We chatted about work (lots to talk about when you are both in hospitality), our passion for Florida, and Dan learned that she does not like Brussels sprouts, after ordering them, all while we sipped margaritas. At that time Miranda was living in Hilton Head, an hour from Savannah. Reluctantly, Daniel had to tell her she should probably leave to drive home safely. But Miranda was worried that he was cutting the date off because he wasn't enjoying himself. However, we both thought the first date was a success and had a second date at Captain Woody's in Bluffton, South Carolina - a halfway point between Hilton Head and Savannah. Then, we had a third date in Savannah, doing a scavenger hunt with the team name "Third Date's a Charm." (clearly it was). Before we knew it, we were traveling to Florida together to visit SeaWorld.
SeaWorld was where we both realized that what we had was something very special and worth nurturing into a real relationship. Pouring down rain and a wonky windshield wiper was certainly not going to stop us from having the best time.
Ever since that trip to SeaWorld, we've known that we are going to be in each other’s lives forever.