Chris and Tamari 's love story began at a family wedding of Tamari’s in August 2014. Chris was in attendance as a guest and Tamari was the maid of honor. While at the wedding reception Chris asked Tamari to dance. Tamari politely declined. Nothing against Chris, just Tamari being shy. The next afternoon the family gathered again to celebrate the newlyweds. Chris was still in town, so he attended. Tamari and Chris met again. Later that evening the newlyweds, Tamari, Chris and Tamari’s younger cousin went to see the Golden Gate Bridge. That night Tamari and Chris exchanged numbers with the intent of developing a friendship since they lived on opposite ends of the country; Tamari lived in Oregon, Chris lived in New York. They developed a great distance friendship; talking on the phone, texting, and Skyping. It was a simple act of sharing candid photos from the wedding that revealed Chris' hidden admiration for Tamari's beauty, captured through his lens. Two Years Later Chris is from Dallas, Texas. Tamari is from Los Angeles, California. Christmas break 2016 Tamari flew from Oregon where she was living to California, she picked up her mom and they flew to Houston, Texas to run a half marathon (at the time Tamari had a goal of running a half marathon in every state). Since it was Christmas break Chris was home in Dallas as well, so Tamari accepted the invite to join Chris at the rock climbing gym. Tamari and her mom made the 3 hour drive from Houston to Dallas for Tamari to celebrate Chris’ birthday with him. It was supposed to be more friends but when Tamari arrived Chris said she was the only one. Tamari will never truly know if those people cancelled or she really was the only one invited. Nonetheless, they had a great time rock climbing. Tamari gifted Chris with a personal sized nothin' bundt cake with a small bottle of crown royal and sang happy birthday in the parking lot. Three Years Later Despite the distance, their friendship steadily grew. Chris was a constant communicator, he always reached out. Their conversations were about life, dating, running and just typical friend talk. Until one day Chris made a comment about a girl. Tamari remembers telling herself, "you better tell him how you feel"! From that day forward Chris knew Tamari had developed feelings for him. Chris was running a lot so Tamari threw out the idea of meeting somewhere to run a half marathon together. Chris agreed and the two met in New Orleans during Tamari’s spring break. On March 23rd, 2019 Tamari and Chris finished their first 13.1 mile run together with Chris running his fastest time keeping up with Tamari. The plan was to meet as friends, but in conversation that night, they communicated mutual feelings for each other. They spent the rest of the vacation as boyfriend and girlfriend. Tamari and Chris have been friends for almost 10 years, dating for 5 years and look forward to a LIFETIME of continued friendship and dating as they begin their life together as the future Mr. and Mrs. Coward.