Joe and I technically meet in the COVID era where the only way to meet people was virtually. So our story begins with the good old internet. In January of 2022, we matched on a dating app called Hinge. Over time we got to know each other and found we had a mutual love of science. Joe also learned my strong love of animals and my love of carbs, especially pasta, during this time. I also found out he had a sense of humor and a was fellow nerd.

We hit things off so well online, that we went on our first date on January 22nd to get dinner at an Italian restaurant. I thought the dinner had gone so well that I texted Joe that night when I got home asking if he wanted to go on a date the next day. Joe might have panicked a little bit when I asked the question. But the next day we went and got brunch and went mini golfing at the Mall of America. Over the next year, we went on countless dates with spending many weekends at each others houses, more mini golf, theatre plays, outdoor adventures, our first camping trip and many friend's weddings.

In April of 2023, we made our first big relationship step. Joe's apartment lease ended and he moved in with me and my dog at the time, Sassy into our townhouse. The year of 2023 was filled with learning how to live with each other along with the activities above. We also experienced our first Minnesota Vikings game together. Unfortunately, we also learned about hardships together too. We had to make the difficult decision to unexpectedly put down my dog, Sassy, after she developed a tumor on her spleen. Although it was hard losing Sassy, we became pet parents again in the year with the adoption of our cat, Charlotte, and our dog, Kit we have today.

The year of 2024, was filled with lots of usual adventures that we have done over the past 2 years. But also with some house renovations built in too. Over the years we have talked causally about getting married and I had wondered when and how he would do it. This all leads up to Joe proposing to me. We had scheduled our yearly date of going to the University of Minnesota Arboretum to see the winter lights event. A few weeks later, he said we should do a date day. This should have been a flag for me but it wasn't. I said yeah lets do that. So on December 14th, we went mini golfing and got dinner at an Italian restaurant. Then we went to the Arboretum that evening. We got in line for our yearly photo under a big lit up apple. There was a person standing behind us with a big camera but I didn't think anything of it. Joe had a person in front of us take our picture with his phone too. The person snapped a picture of us under the apple and then Joe got down on one knee and asked me to marry him and I said yes! I then discovered the person behind us was actually a photographer Joe had hired to take pictures. I was 100% surprised and no idea. So we walked around the lights with the photographer and got some pictures taken. After the excitement of the moment, I learned he had been looking for a ring since that January and purchased the ring in July. He hid it well in our house because I had no idea he had it.

This now leads us to our wedding and we couldn't be more excited to be husband and wife and celebrate the day with you all!