David and I matched in the fall of 2019 through Bumble. I hadn’t had much luck with online dating apps at this point. In fact, I was ready to give up on them altogether, that is until I came across David’s profile. His featured photo was a picture of himself dressed as Thor. His listed hobbies included playing video games and D&D. David was clearly a nerd, just like me! I decided to take a chance. So, I sent him my phone number along with the message “Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my last online dating hope”. Only a true geek would get the Star Wars reference. The very next day I received a single text. It was a comic con photo of myself dressed as Princess Leia, but David managed to make me the hologram in that iconic “Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi” scene. That’s when I knew David was special. After a few weeks of getting to know each other over the phone, we couldn’t wait to meet in person. We decided to go out for dinner. David arrived early and brought an umbrella just in case it started to rain (apparently chivalry was not dead). I remember having such an incredible night with him. The conversation was super easy, and we discovered we had a great deal in common. And oh boy did David know how to make me laugh. I laughed so much that my face hurt by the time the night ended. Needless to say, I fell for David pretty fast. I knew it was love when David agreed to wear matching Christmas sweaters to visit Santa at the mall. I recall Mr. Claus taking in David’s appearance and pulling him to the side to chat. Santa then proceeded to whisper in my ear “This guy’s a keeper. Don’t let him get away.” I reassured Santa that I had every intention of keeping him. David was simply my perfect match. The next four months was a whirlwind of exciting dates and adventures. It felt like a fairytale. We were in love and on top of the world. Nothing could possibly go wrong……then COVID happened. A worldwide pandemic forced everyone into quarantine. David and I made the decision to spend this time together rather than apart. This would be a true test to our relationship. Our jobs went completely virtual. David was designing video games in the front office while I was teaching a few feet away in the living room. While the world seemed to be thrust into craziness, David and I grew even closer. Both being introverts, we adapted fairly well to the situation. We spent the next six months, solving murder mystery games, laughing at silly movies, playing VR, filming green screen videos, and more. Life slowly got back to normal, and we began venturing out again. We started off with small day trips to Marco Island and weekend visits to Disney World. We even took a road trip to Waynesville, North Carolina for Thanksgiving and spent some of summer in Cincinnati, Ohio. All the while our love continued to grow stronger. In November of 2021, David got down on one knee and proposed. He spent nearly a year planning the proposal. He redesigned one of our favorite board games to reflect all our special memories and inside jokes. Through happy tears, I immediately responded “YES”. The next few months we were in a blissful daze, excitedly planning our future together. That’s when life once again decided to throw us a curve ball. I noticed I was struggling to hear out of my left ear, so I sought medical attention. An MRI later, I was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma, a type of brain tumor wrapped around my auditory nerve. Wedding plans were put on hold and replaced with doctor appointments. It was by far the scariest experience of my life. But David was there for me every step of the way. I simply could not have done it without him. Our love for each other got us through once again. I can’t wait to marry David on July 8th. It is my belief that we were destined to be together. David is not only my best friend, but he is my soulmate. The love that I share with David is like no other and I’m truly honored to become his wife.

In 2019 I was working for Ghostpunch Games for a few months, from Orlando, when I decided to move down to the Fort Lauderdale area to work in the studio with them. A couple months later I felt like I was ready to start searching for that someone special. I never tried online dating before, so the first app I downloaded was Bumble, where I came across this one girl’s profile… I could tell right away that she was different… in a good way. Some of the things she mentioned in her profile were Star Wars, Bigfoot, and tacos. I couldn’t swipe right fast enough! She wasn’t afraid to share her goofy, fun side and that’s what immediately drew me to her. Thankfully on this dating app, the girl has to message first, so the pressure was off of me. Through texting she encouraged me to talk on the phone, and during one of our conversations we set a date to meet! Our first date was in a Mexican restaurant called Azteca. I remember getting there early and sitting on a bench just inside the restaurant. My intention was to open the door for her when she walked up, but nervousness got the better of me and I just sat there awkwardly instead as she opened it up herself. When talking in person, it was like I had known her all along. This took me by surprise because my greatest fear was that I wouldn’t have anything interesting to talk about. She laughed at my jokes and we had a great time. I think what I liked about her most was that she just understands me; we always seem to be thinking on the same wavelength. More dates followed where I would research special places to eat in the area to take her to. We began dating in November 2019, and by March 2020 the pandemic was starting, which gave us a real test of being stuck together for long periods of time as our only social interaction. Luckily it was a breeze with us both being introverts. We played board games, video games, watched movies, and, despite the world around us, had an amazing time together. By November of 2020 I had already started thinking about our future together and wanted to do something special to pop the question to Ashley. I started designing a board game that contained all our inside jokes and memories. This took me until about the middle of 2021 to create all the content. We went on a trip to Cincinnati that summer to visit my sister, Chrystel, where I asked her for my mom’s ring. That diamond is what I used to make Ashley’s engagement ring. While watching the date for the game to arrive from overseas I had the engagement ring made, and also secretly visited her family and asked her father for his blessing. The board game came in just before the 2nd anniversary of our first date (November 13th), so I set the stage for us to “just hang out and play a board game” on that day. It all went as planned and she said “yes”! We originally planned to have our wedding in October of 2022, but, shortly after getting engaged, Ashley noticed it was becoming hard to hear out of her left ear. Doctors performed a scan and found a small tumor in her head. There were lots of scary days that followed, learning about the tumor and what our options were. Luckily it was small enough that they could remove it before it caused any life-threatening problems. I remember taking her up to the room where the doctors prepped her and noticed that she was remarkably calm and strong about it. That was a very hard goodbye for me, placing her life in the hands of someone else. The procedure was a success, although her left side hearing had to be sacrificed. It was a long week that her family and I spent in the hospital before she came home. I thank God every day that she’s healthy and here with me now. Even though we’re still going through recovery we decided that we wanted to start planning the wedding again and settled on the July 8th, 2023 date that you all will be celebrating with us!