Like many modern love stories, ours started with a swipe. In the summer of 2019, I had just moved from Atlanta to Charlotte, North Carolina, and decided Tinder was probably a reasonable way to meet people in my new city. Then I came across Vivian’s profile. I swiped right. She swiped right too. And somehow, 6 years later, here we are planning a wedding. So I guess Tinder worked. Crazy. At the time, Vivian just wanted to welcome the new guy to Charlotte and show me around her hometown. We quickly discovered we had both been involved in similar organizations during college, giving us plenty to talk about. Vivian took me to one of her favorite spots, Seoul Food Meat Co., and what started as a casual hangout became the beginning of a great friendship. We also discovered several mutual friends from college, giving us plenty of reasons to keep hanging out. When Vivian introduced me to her best friend, I apparently passed the test. Her verdict: “He’s a green flag.” I’ll admit, getting a positive review from the best friend was a pretty good sign. Somewhere along the way, our friendship became something more. I fell for Vivian’s kind heart, sense of adventure, and the way she broke me out of my shell. Then COVID happened. While the world shut down, we got a lot of unexpected time together. We spent countless days with Vivian’s parents and our friends, and somehow survived seeing each other almost constantly. Looking back, it was probably the ultimate relationship test—and we passed. In late 2022, I accepted a job with Amazon that took me back to Georgia, putting four hours between us. We made long distance work with monthly visits and nightly FaceTimes. It wasn’t always easy, but it made one thing clear: we were willing to put in the effort to be together. By the end of 2023, we started planning our future and settling down. We debated North Carolina versus Georgia, which would have been the sensible choices. Then Amazon announced its return-to-office plans. My team was based in Seattle. So naturally, we moved across the entire country because that’s what you do when you’re trying to make a practical life decision. Vivian had to quit her job, but the stars aligned when she received an offer just one week before we moved. We packed up our lives and headed west. Seattle quickly became home. We fell in love with the Pacific Northwest, built an amazing community of friends, discovered new hobbies, and spent countless days exploring the mountains and water around us. Then came May 2025. Vivian brought me to Hong Kong for the first time to meet more of her family. Since Hong Kong had always been her second home—and she had always dreamed of being proposed to outside the United States—I knew I had my chance. I just had to not ruin it. Before the trip, I secretly learned Cantonese so I could ask her parents for their blessing. With the help of her dad and uncle, we found the perfect location and photographer. Along the Victoria Harbour waterfront, I got down on one knee and asked Vivian to marry me. She said yes. And thankfully, she never figured out why I suddenly knew Cantonese. Today, we’re so excited to celebrate with the people we love most. Seattle is where we built our life together, so there’s no better place to begin this next chapter. We're especially grateful to everyone who traveled from near and far, from all walks of life, to celebrate with us. Looking back, it’s pretty crazy that one right swipe in Charlotte led to a cross-country move, a proposal halfway around the world, and now a marriage. I downloaded Tinder to meet people in a new city. I guess I only needed to meet one❤️ - Alex Deng