In October 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic, Ryan Plourde made the decision to try something he'd never tried before, online dating. He did some research and decided to create a profile on a new dating site his sister had told him about called Hinge. In October 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic, Charlotte Bowman was ready to give up on online dating. She was perfectly content to live out her days with her two cats, Marcelle & Little Red, but decided she'd give it one more shot and opened her Hinge app. Ryan wasn't having much luck, he found most of the profiles he came across to be bland and somewhat disingenuous. But then he happened upon the profile of a woman named Charlotte. She looked beautiful in every photo he saw, but it was her answer to a question on her page that truly piqued Ryan's interest: "Q - What's one thing people should know about you?" "A - I love food, I love eating food, I love trying new food, I love talking about food, and I hope you do too!" Ryan did indeed love food too, so he left her a like. Charlotte opened her phone one day to find a new message from Hinge: "Ryan liked your answer." She opened Ryan's profile and thought he was cute and had some funny answers as well, but it was the picture of his two dogs, James & Claire, that piqued her interest. Maybe just maybe, she thought, these two dogs would be good companions for her two cats. So she sent Ryan a message: "What's the best thing you've eaten recently?" Ryan was thrilled to find a new message on his phone from a pretty girl named Charlotte who loved food as much as him, so he sent her a message back, and she sent him one, and he sent her one, and so on and so on. After a week Ryan and Charlotte decided to meet. So on a Thursday, at Garden Café in Sherman Oaks, Ryan and Charlotte met for the first time. They've talked every day since that day, they've eaten countless delicious meals together, and Marcelle, Claire, James, and Little Red have become best friends.

Ryan and Charlotte had been together for a year. They'd talked everyday since the first day they met, taken trips together, spent holidays together, they'd even moved in together. They'd planned a trip for October to go see the Grand Canyon. A few weeks before the trip they were at breakfast in Culver City when Charlotte asked Ryan a question: "Remember when we talked about having kids?" She asked. "Yes." He replied. "Would you want to get married before having kids?" "Probably...would you?" "Ya, I think I would." They sat quietly for a while and then looked at each other and smiled, because they both knew what they'd just agreed to. Over the next few weeks they went to look at rings together and, unbeknownst to Charlotte, Ryan had ordered one. He was going to propose during their trip to the Grand Canyon. There was only one problem, upon ordering the ring Ryan discovered that it wouldn't arrive until the week AFTER their trip. Ryan began spinning out neurotically while Charlotte, none the wiser, eagerly prepared for their trip. Their second day in the park Ryan and Charlotte took a 12 mile hike into the center of the Grand Canyon. Arriving at a cliff directly above the Colorado River just after noon, Ryan and Charlotte sat down for lunch. 10 minutes after sitting down the only other group on the cliff left to hike out, and Ryan and Charlotte found themselves alone in the middle of the Grand Canyon. As they sat there, taking in the view, totally alone, Ryan got down on one knee and Charlotte began to giggle. "Charlotte, I kinda messed up, and I don't have a ring, but I did order a ring I promise, but it doesn't get here till next week, but this moment is just too perfect. Will you marry me?" Charlotte laughed and then said "Yes" and as Ryan stood up Charlotte had a question for him, "Will you marry me?" Ryan said "Yes" and they smiled and hugged...and then had to hike 6 miles back to the car. The ring arrived a week later, and Charlotte hasn't taken it off since.