We met online prior to meeting. Shocking I know, but like 90% of the couples in the 21st century, our beginning started thanks to good old college culture and Snapchat! Oh, what a time.
After a few months of chatting, we decided to hang out. We met at the In-n-Out on Guadalupe Street in Austin and I stared at Dane from my car until he noticed I was there. He, however, was waiting for me to come inside, so we were both doing nothing for around 5 minutes. We then drove around trying to find our way to Zilker Park without a GPS because Dane was trying to prove he knew his way around Austin (spoiler, he didn't). He then gave up and turned on the GPS. We sat in my car and talked for hours and looked at the Austin skyline. I was really nervous but after meeting him I knew he was different. I've never had someone make me laugh more than Dane did and I have never felt so comfortable with anyone before.
This day I asked Carin to be my girlfriend. I was nervous so I didn’t know when to ask. I just ended up saying it at the most random time. I was so happy to call her my girlfriend that we went to a fine dining restaurant to celebrate: Torchy’s.
I love you came preeeetty fast lol. I (Carin) was the first one to say I love you, but it was because Dane kept beating around the bush. He said "I think I'm falling in love with you." to get the idea in my head. However, me being the bold person I can be, I said, "I already am, I love you." and then Dane said I love you back. As you can tell, I made a lot of the first moves.
Carin and I always knew we would get married. We had talked about it months beforehand and we were both excited to spend the rest of our lives together. This, however, did not reduce my anxiety at all when the day came. May was a stressful time in our lives but the day I proposed to Carin was the most memorable day of my life. May 12th started out like any other day. I took Carin to Mandolas, an Italian restaurant up the street that she loves. We stuffed ourselves with pasta and lots of garlic bread and then headed towards Zilker. I wanted to make this special so I took her to the beautiful Zilker Botanical Gardens. Zilker was also one of the first places we went to when we first met so I wanted it to be special in that regard. When we arrived I was sweating bullets, the time had finally come and I didn’t know where or when to ask! We walked through the whole garden admiring the flowers and Koi fish as I scouted for the perfect place to ask. I think she knew at this point because I was acting quiet and there was quite a large box bulging out of my pocket. Eventually we found this bench covered in bird artwork and that’s where I decided to ask. I don’t remember much of what I said because I was nervous but I made it clear that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. Needless to say she said yes and she cried out of pure joy. I’m so happy to have her by my side and hope to come back to the bird bench in the future. I will never forget how we felt that day and how much I love Carin.
We will be getting married on May 28, 2022 in our home of Austin, Texas, at the Cedar Bend. We are so excited and can't wait to spend this day with you!