Hinge-the dating app meant to be deleted. It was love at first swipe... not really, but basically after that first date. After talking for a couple of weeks on the app, we met at Yee-Haw Brewing in Knoxville. If you've ever been there, such a fun sports bar and always super crowded in the summer. They have a large outside space with games across the turf - but not this night as it was freeeeeezing the end of January. We sat outside in the cold, shut the bar down at 11, and didn't leave that parking lot until 3am. Poor Austin wasn't able to get a word in all night.. we still joke about it. Fast-forward 2.5 years later - we've encountered so many silent obstacles, have been on so many adventures, and our families love the in-law like their own kid.

It was my weekend to visit Austin, at this point we had only been dating a couple of months. I don't even think either of our families knew at this point that there was a boyfriend/girlfriend in the picture. We had a downtown Chattanooga date night - watched the sunset in Coolidge Park, walked across the bridge and stumbled upon The Hair of the Dog. Austin and I have bonded over trying new brews since the moment we met in person. We spend a couple of hours there with the patio to ourselves.. although I said "I love you" first, Austin had already hinted how he felt. It was so fast and scary and there's no way I could possibly feel that way when it had just been a few months. As we walked out of there to get ice cream, hand-in-hand waiting to cross the street, a shooting star falls across the sky. The first and only shooting star either of us have seen to this day. The advice to broken hearts is always "when you know, you just know". We just knew.

We planned our first big vacation together at Indian Rocks Beach. (Thanks for the recommendation, Becca!) It was such a dream.. we found this small, basically hole in the wall condo with private beach access. The area was quaint, everything walkable and no cheesy touristy vibes. Although, it was super difficult to find souvenirs to bring home for our fambams - but we more enjoyed pretending we lived there. In our welcome book at the condo, there was mention of a shell tree a mile walk along the beach. A cute, locals concept where people make a wish on a shell, tie it to the tree. We brought a tripod because Mindi was too cheap to get pictures done, but still wanted cute beach pictures. So here we go one morning, walking down the beach. When we finally make it to the shell tree, both of our feet are killing us, we're drenched in sweat and we didn't think we would ever find the shell tree. 3 miles later.. there it is. We rested, tied our shells on the tree and believe it or not, Mindi's wish came true. We were in awe of the landscape.. had our tripod set up and were just about to take pictures. Austin had snuck and got the clicker to capture my reaction.. but I just HAD to take the phone off the stand to get good pictures of seagulls playing in the water. With nerves getting to the best of him, I turn back around with Austin on his knee, ring out, "I have a question to ask you." Stunned, I just started crying. The answer I prepared was "it's okay, we don't have to have crab legs tonight" because we were really vacationing on a budget and I thought his question was going to be "how disappointed will you be if we don't get crab legs this trip?" Not, "Will you marry me?" The ring went on my finger, we did NOT get photos *smh* but it was the most perfect moment. I cried and passed out seashells to strangers and yelled "look, Austin loves me" the whole way back down the beach. All stinky with blisters and mascara running down my face. We wanted to keep the moment to ourselves and didn't tell our families for a couple of days. That sacred time together is why we've decided to have an elopement. It went the furthest thing as planned but was absolutely perfect, and at the beach - this mermaids favorite place on earth. We picked June 11 as our date because that's Mindi's parent's anniversary. We wanted to share that day with them because I went my whole life thinking finding someone who loves me like my dad loves my mom is simply impossible. So I settled, and settled.. but then out of nowhere and because of a goofy dating app, here came Austin. My absolute best friend (and best doggo and kitty cat dad).