Corey and Annie first connected with one another in February 2021, after both swiping right on the dating app Bumble. It was a COVID-era version of the movie, "The Holiday", starting with Annie finding an opportunity to swap her Santa Monica, CA apartment with someone living in Brooklyn, NY so she could temporarily live in NYC for a COVID-related job pivot. After a lonely winter in Brooklyn, Annie decided to try her luck on Bumble to simply find someone to go to dinner with. She was planning to head back to CA for good in a few weeks, so she was looking for dinner company, not love, and most restaurants required reservations and/or outdoor dining in the cold - not very appealing for solo diners. After a lonely Saturday night of swiping left (which means "NO"), she was thrilled to wake up on a Sunday to a new match with a blue-eyed attorney who described himself as a "Fun Uncle". She messaged him and quickly found out that he was en route to JFK for a business trip. When she asked where he was headed and he replied, "Los Angeles," her curiosity piqued. "Where in Los Angeles?" she asked. He replied, "My office is in Century City." Alright!! Maybe this can work she thought and continued, "Century City is about 10 minutes away from my home in Santa Monica." At this point Corey thought he had connected with a successful jetsetter with homes in both Brooklyn AND Santa Monica (LOL). Trying to keep the conversation going, Annie asked Corey what type of law he practiced. When he said labor and employment, a lightbulb clicked, her next door neighbor in Santa Monica practiced the same type of law. With a 1 in a million chance, she asked, "Do you know Kat"? Corey replied, "...Kat Smith"? Yes. Corey knew Annie's next door neighbor! Not only did he know her, he worked at the same law firm with her, and his business trip to LA was to take over a case for her. The coincidence blew their minds and they both immediately agreed they had to meet in person. When Corey returned to NYC and met Annie, there was an instant connection. The banter, interests, conversations, and family values were all green flags for both. On Day 2 of knowing one another they sat on a bench in Tompkins Square Park in New York’s East Village. After a moment of silence Corey said, "This is crazy." Annie replied, "What? That we met yesterday and now you have a girlfriend?". Over the next wonderful years together Corey would always tease Annie about how she pronounced herself his girlfriend within 24 hours of meeting. Walking through Tompkins Square Park this past June, he brought the story up again (he has a tendency to play his favorite stories on repeat). While revisiting the same story for the hundredth time, he told Annie a rock was caught in his shoe and sat on a bench to get it out. "Remember when you called yourself my girlfriend? Well, what if now you call yourself my fiancée?" Turns out there was no rock in his shoe but there was one in his pocket. She said, "Of course!" Annie and Corey are incredibly excited to write the rest of their love story as husband and wife and to celebrate with all the people who mean so much to them.