Cathy and Branden met on Bumble in March 2017. At that time, Cathy was living in San Antonio, but was in Austin for SXSW. After breakfast, she was sitting on her friend Crystal’s couch swiping through the app when a cute, racially ambiguous, curly hair boy popped on her screen. Curious, she swiped right and they matched. After some casual in-app banter back and forth, she ghosted him when traveling back to San Antonio. Branden, persistent, messaged her and sent her a playlist of his favorite songs. Intrigued, Cathy listened to the playlist and agreed to meet Branden in person. Their first date was at the Thai Kun food truck at Whistlers, and the rest is history!

Cathy and Branden love hiking and camping, so they decided to make a trip to Zion National Park while visiting his grandparents in Vegas. Cathy had no idea Branden was planning to propose at the park! Cathy and Branden decided that they were going to hike The Narrows on the first day. While sitting on the bus, they met two fellow Texans, Branda and Jen, who also were planning to hike The Narrows. They decided to hike as a group and get to the end to see the Big Spring waterfall. Cathy knew that hiking The Narrows requires hiking in the Virgin River, but she did not expect it to be so strenuous. The river floor was comprised of round, slippery rocks, and the water levels varied ankle deep to fully submerging your body. Hours went by and every person they asked walking back said they didn’t see a waterfall. Feeling cold and discouraged, Cathy wanted to turn back, but the rest of the group insisted on making it to the waterfall. Branden secretly told Branda and Jen he was going to propose, so it was mission “Get Cathy to Big Spring”. After many (what felt like hours) more of hiking, they finally met someone who said they saw the waterfall, and a renewed sense of energy washed upon the group. 10 minutes later, they made it to the destination! Branden was Go-Proing the whole hike, so Cathy didn’t think of much when he asked her to stand in the middle of the waterfall. He asked her to take down her hair (which she thought was strange), and she she turned around he was on one knee! Cathy was so shocked and surprised she didn’t hear a thing he said except “will you marry me?” And of course, she said YES!