Welcome to our Love Story!

THE SHORT VERSION: We matched on the online dating app, bumble! But we like to think we would have met 'in the wild' in Chicago somehow, some way :). After 3+ years of dating, traveling, and being in love we are so excited to celebrate in Chicago with our family & friends!

Matt surprised Britty with tickets to Paris!! He told her with 2 days notice. He even emailed her boss (with some help from a fellow ape) a month in advance to make sure she could take off work. And yes, Brit cried a lot when she opened the plane tickets. Matt proposed in Paris along The Seine river; private & 'just us' like Britty wanted. He also booked a photo shoot for the next day by the Eiffel tower!! She said oui! We celebrated all around the city drinking Champagne & Sancerre (the BEST white wine, try some at our wedding!), and lived in a happy little Parisan bubble for a couple days. We went to live jazz, baked croissants from scratch, and wrote a letter to ourselves to open in 5 years (Steve-please don't sell Sue Drive until 2031+)

THE LONG VERSION: It all started in early 2023 when we swiped right on each other on the online dating site bumble! ... or so we thought. it turns out we had also belonged to the same gym (in Matt's office building) during COVID days. We didn't meet (that we know of) then, but we like to think it was meant to be one way or another (MD said he def didn’t see BZ because he def would’ve said something to her upon sight) Back to the online dating..... it took 6 weeks of messaging before we actually went out on our first date. For those who have been lucky enough to never have to swipe to find dates in your life, this was an obscenely long time to chat with a stranger over text before ever meeting in person. We got to a point where we were sending long multi-paragraph texts back and forth before ever seeing each other's face. Infamously, Matt caught pneumonia and texted Britty a picture from urgent care (for proof) the day of their originally planned first date. (pneumonia almost took him out before Britt did ayeee). 2 weeks of antibiotics later, we finally were able to meet. We liked each other right away. For those who know us both personally, the first date started out exactly as you would expect.. Britty was yapping away while Matt was an expert at directing attention off himself and talking as little as possible. We were at a fancy cocktail bar, but discussed our appreciation for dive bars (where there's bud heavy for bzatz). Our favorite memory was at the end of the first date, wondering if we should go to the dive bar next door. Britty asked Matt "Are you having a good time?" To which he said "I wouldn't be here if I wasn't." 😐 We laugh about that moment because it says so much about both of us. BZ having the audacity to just come out and ask him that in the middle of a first date, & MD being so hard to read that she felt she had to ask before continuing the date. Learning each other was and still is one of our favorite things. For instance, on our 3rd date Britty asked 'do you want to drink a carafe of wine with me at Quartino?' and we went and as Britty was shoving her face with free bread, Matt chose to announce he was actually gluten free (and dairy free and soy free and hazelnut free and I digress...). Over the next 3 years, we dated, journaled, became roommates, traveled to 6 countries & countless states to see & spend time with our friends and family, and grew together in life & love to levels we never knew possible. We brought out the strengths in each other, and learned our differences are our greatest super power. We love doing little things for each other, we strive to never stop dating and to live extraordinary lives together. We feel truly happy & sparkly in love and can't wait to have a day dedicated to celebrating that feeling surrounded by all of you!