Our first date was at Coffee Tomo in Irvine, California, but before then we were introduced to one another online through the website called, Coffee Meets Bagel. We must have had a shared interest in one another because we matched on site! Fortunately, we also shared a mutual acquaintance, Ben's younger brother, David. I (Antoinette) noticed a photo of David and Ben on his profile and I used that as an icebreaker to get the conversation started. Over a short time, kind and engaging messages were exchanged. Ben soon asked me (Antoinette) to meet one another in person at a small coffee shop in Irvine.

For those of you who may know, our second date was interesting. On the day of, Ben forgot to follow up with me (Antoinette) to set a time and location. I will be a kind, future bride and spare you all the hectic details. Needless to say, the second date started off a bit rocky. We met down at Balboa Island, walked around, talked, enjoyed the sun, and topped it off with a chocolate-covered banana. I would like to say that he made up for it but after our second date, I didn't hear from him. I know, you're probably thinking, what? Yep, Ben and I didn't contact one another for almost three months! That was back in October of 2018. I mustered up the courage to reach out again in January of 2019 and that's when we really started to get to know one another. Later in the year on December 15th, 2019 Ben took us back to the place where he almost lost his chance. Out on a small dock, he got down on one knee and proposed...and I said, yes.