Courtney and Shalin met through a mutual friend at church named A.C. Sanford in December 2018. While attending a basketball game at Staples Center, Shalin was thoroughly hooked on watching his favorite player Dwayne Wade of the Miami Heat play his last game in L.A, while A.C. was flipping through his Instagram trying to play matchmaker to his good friend (a practice he has done for the last 7 years of their friendship). Shalin was used to saying no to A.C’s attempts, but was distracted from the game, once A.C. showed him a picture of Courtney. Shalin was initially attracted to a picture of Courtney just hanging out with her friends due to her genuine smile. The next picture was of her dressed up for a party, and Shalin was ready for a date! Our first date was at M Street Coffee in Sherman Oaks, followed by a magical second date at Covell Wine Bar in Los Feliz (that ended perplexingly by discussing differing politics). Somehow we made it to a 3rd date at Republique, which also happened to be Courtney’s 30th birthday, and we were smitten. We texted constantly during Christmas Break where Shalin was in Miami having a family reunion and Courtney was with her family in Redlands, CA.

Over the next year, we took trips to San Francisco, San Diego, Miami and Las Vegas, and unbeknownst to Courtney . . . a surprise trip to Minneapolis in December 2019, where Shalin proposed to Courtney amidst the falling snow on the Endless Bridge of the Guthrie Theatre overlooking the Mississippi River. To say Courtney was surprised is an understatement (she basically tried to run away when she saw Shalin), but the couple sat on the snowy bridge overlooking the Mississippi River and old Milling factories, talked about the future, their dreams, their God who brought them together, and Shalin even recited a Shakespeare Sonnet for his soon to be fiancé. Afterwards, he got down on one knee as Courtney’s family and Shalin’s Mom all came out to watch, and she said yes! The next few days the couple celebrated with family in Minneapolis, followed by a fun engagement party with friends in LA. Courtney and Shalin are excited about the future and can’t wait to see what life and God has in store for them!