Okay, confession time: for a while, we had a cover story. We told a few family members that we met at a panel discussion at the Capitol Theater in Lebanon — you know, something respectable, with Netflix stars, criminal justice talk, and just enough coincidence to sound romantic. The story went that I was there for a class (Criminal Justice major duties) and Owen, a correctional officer, just happened to be there too. He offered me a seat, we struck up a conversation, and the rest was history… or so we said. Now for the truth: we met on Tinder. I messaged him first — “You’re a Libra, I’m a Libra too. When’s your birthday?” He said, “October 5th.” I literally gasped — that’s my birthday too. From there, we couldn’t stop texting. We hit it off quickly, bonding over our shared interest in law enforcement and similar sense of humor. It wasn’t long before we met up in person, and what started as a flirty zodiac coincidence turned into something pretty amazing. We’re so excited to share the rest of our story with you.

For Christmas 2023, we gifted each other early general admission tickets to see Zach Bryan — one of our favorite artists and the voice behind our song, “Sun To Me.” We were so excited that we showed up early and stood in line for two hours just to make sure we could be front row — and it was worth every minute. We made it inside and to the very front, hands on the gate right in front of the stage. Then, during the emotional performance of “Tourniquet,” right as Zach sang, “If you need a tourniquet or if you want to turn and quit, know that I’ll be by your side,” Owen turned to me and asked me to marry him. I said yes — with a heart full of love and excitement. To top it all off, someone from the band noticed — and Zach even mentioned our proposal in a post on Instagram. We left the concert with sore feet, a ring on my finger, and a once-in-a-lifetime memory. It was the perfect beginning to forever.