We both said yes

Betsy and Nicki both signed up for Match in the spring of 2016. Betsy was in Blacksburg VA getting ready to move to Indy and her profile said she was "looking to meet people." Nicki had been in Indy for a few years and wondered what the hell she meant by "looking to meet people." Considering that the matching algorithm for "women seeking women" was essentially "here's a list of lesbians in a 250 mile radius," Betsy noticed right away when Nicki's profile popped up. In fact, Betsy messaged Nicki on Nicki's first day on the site. After a few weeks of trading increasingly longer messages, including Betsy asking Nicki on two separate occasions if she had any pets, Betsy said that "the Jeopardy! story is better told in person, would [she] care to get together?" This was the first time either of them had met someone from the site in person, so they were both nervous, but the date went quite well. So well that Betsy couldn't resist texting her the next day. Nicki invited Betsy to join her and her friends for a Best of Indy Burger event a few days later. So, of course, after two successful dates in three days, Betsy promptly left for six weeks. She spent two weeks traveling through the UK with her best friend Molly, and she couldn't quite resist texting Nicki through her travels. Nicki, despite Betsy's lack of awareness of time zone differences, couldn't help but respond and look forward to the messages. After Betsy got back from Europe, she went to Atlanta for a month of work training, and the messages only increased in frequency. It was a little unorthodoxed, but it allowed them to really get to know each other without any pressure. By the time Betsy came back to Indy, they were both falling for each other. Betsy was back exactly 8 days before they officially started dating, and the rest is history. In summary, Betsy and Nicki don't know why everyone complains about online dating; you just pick one person to message with and meet, and then you're done.

I started planning how I would ask Betsy to marry me seven months ahead of time. After countless emails and conversations with friends and family, I decided to propose on October 14, 2017, at the White River State Park in downtown Indy followed by a surprise party at a nearby restaurant, The Tap. To ensure Betsy wouldn’t make other plans, our friend Charity told Betsy she was planning an early surprise birthday party for her husband at the JW Marriott. Charity even created a fake invitation that she mailed to us! Betsy was suspicious, given that Adam's birthday is Nov 23, but I stuck to the story and Betsy talked herself out of it. Before the proposal Charity helped Betsy’s parents and best friend Molly get in their respective places at the park; I had sent detailed instructions AND maps. I told Betsy I was going to park at her gym (as it is right next to the park) but she suggested we park in her work garage because it was closer to the JW. I said something about it being a nice day for a walk, and for some reason, Betsy agreed that parking closer would be silly. The JW was to our left but the proposal location was to the right, so I literally yanked her to the right telling her I wanted to walk the long way around. Charity had messaged me to tell me that they had placed a quarter on the ground where I was supposed to stand. As we neared the proposal spot, I started looking for the quarter but someone else had picked it up. Betsy and I awkwardly stood there while I waited for them to come out with the signs. We walked around for a few seconds and stumbled upon Adam. Betsy actually started whispering to me about an excuse for why we were downtown to cover for what she still thought was his surprise party, when her parents and Molly FINALLY came out with the signs. I proposed and she said yes! She was still coming down from the shock of the proposal when we walked into The Tap where the rest of our friends and family were waiting. She cried. It was a perfect day.

After Nicki's amazing proposal, I knew I wanted to move quickly. I decided to go for the more intimate proposal, and include the animals. I was giving a talk at Purdue, and I made plans to come back early and surprise her with pictures of the animals wearing signs that read "Will" "You" "Marry" and "Me" on them. Then I'd drop to one knee in the driveway, the site of our first kiss, and ask her to marry me. The night before, Nicki tells me she's planning on working from home. I panic and say "Are you sure?" because that's a totally normal response. I then brilliantly tried to cover it by being weird and awkward about a bunch of stuff for the rest of the night (nailed it). I enlisted our friends to get her out of the house around 4:45, but I had mistimed my arrival, and I was going to be home before she left to meet them. As a cover for not going with her, I pretended to have a conference call. I'm sitting on the back porch on this fake conference call for about 15 minutes, when I realize that Nicki has already left. I gather the supplies, and it becomes evident that two of the dogs are missing. Nicki took them with her on the car ride. Of course. So I make the two remaining animals pull double sign duty (the dog is very confused and the cat is annoyed), and I send her the pictures. I'm standing in the driveway waiting for Nicki to get there, when out of the corner of my eye, I see our neighbor's dog bounding through our yard. She had escaped and was now running around the front yard. Neighbors come out to help corral her, and that's when Nicki pulls up. What was supposed to be this quiet private moment was now a neighborhood scene complete with barking dogs and scrambling humans. I asked Nicki to get out of the car, and she said "How about we wait a minute?" Eventually, the circus dispersed, she got out of the car, and I asked her to marry me. She said yes, to my eternal gratitude. Now we both have amazing proposal stories, just for very different reasons.