Matthew and I met through mutual friends back in 2017 at a cabin party in the mountains. Both of our friend groups would on occasion get together to have these fun shindigs. I distinctly remember the first time I ever interacted with Matthew. A group of us were playing flip cup and Matthew was standing next to me. He had just finished his drink and flipped the last cup to win the round. For some reason, he then proceeded to turn to me and hyena laugh in my face as a victory celebration. I was immediately annoyed and not a fan. Our friend group went on to hangout at more cabin parties, football tailgating and bar hoping. Matthew would occasionally show up to these events. It was around the summer of 2018 where Matthew was hanging out with the group more often. One night after a football game we all decided to go grab a bite to eat at Taco Bell and one person in the group had a bit too much to drink and felt like they were about to toss their cookies. Matthew then swoops in to offer to hold their hair and FALSE ALARM. No cookies tossed but that little gesture had me hooked. I started to develop a crush on him that very night. After one late night outing with friends we all headed back to Matthews house and while everyone went to bed, Matthew and I sat on the back porch and talked until 3am in the morning. It was then that I expressed my interest in Matthew and asked him out! Our first date was entirely planned by Matthew. He wanted to treat me to a proper first date. We had reservations at the Lonesome Dove and I was so nervous I could barely eat, but it was one of the best meals I have ever had. After dinner we stopped to grab Sonic and drove to a little pier overlooking the Tennessee River. We sat on the pier and talked about our future plans and goals. Matthew was beginning pharmacy school and expressed that he was not looking for a relationship which was disheartening, but I understood his situation. I still wanted to spend time with Matthew and after our first date we proceeded to go on a few more dates before we decided to stop seeing each other since I wanted a relationship and Matthew was getting more involved with school. So we called it quits. A month later in December of 2018 there was a Christmas party where Matthew lived. Whenever we saw each other it was like no time had passed at all. I was still crazy about him and he stayed by my side the entire night. We had a great time catching up and I realized how much I missed him. The next day we went to brunch and decided we wanted to begin seriously dating- all in. We dated for several months and Matthew made it official on the magical night of March 30th at a special Great Gatsby party at Biltmore. And we have been together ever since. We chose March 30th as our wedding date because that will be our 5 year anniversary.