We grew up 5 minutes apart, went to the same high school, Oakdale (Go Bears!), where we first met and the same college, Virginia Tech (Go Hokies!). We would say "Hi!" to each other in high school before soccer/basketball/track practice and talk about where we planned to go to college. Once we were at Virginia Tech together, we would say "Hi!" to each other at football games or whenever our paths crossed on campus. It wasn't until 2018 after Emma finished graduate school and was back in Frederick for the summer while job searching and Austin finished at Virginia Tech and was back in Frederick for the summer waiting for graduate school to start when Austin texted Emma asking if she wanted to get lunch as he'd love to hear more about her graduate school experience. Emma couldn't help but wonder if it was a date and made sure to get mom's advice on how to dress somewhere between "it's a date" and "it's just friendly". As the story goes, we weren't sure if it was a date at first, but by 30 minutes in, we KNEW it was a date. 3 hours later, we were still sitting outside at Brewer's Alley in Frederick, gabbing away, and here we are now, 6 years later, getting married <3 :) We are incredibly excited to start our forever surrounded by our village, all of you who have shaped us and supported us. We are counting down the days!