June 17th, 2022

Matt and Erin both attended the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Matt was a sophomore and Erin was a freshman. They were living in the same dorm, socializing with similar friend groups, but did not cross paths until the Spring of 2014. Matt and Erin met at a party through mutual friends and the rest was history. Matt and Erin continued to date through the rest of their college time. The couple graduated college in 2016 and 2017 and continued their relationship in the real world! They were inseparable; they were each other's first loves. Est. April 19th, 2014.

In October 2020, Matt and Erin took a trip to Estes Park, Colorado. Erin and Matt love to travel to new places so this was just another exciting adventurous trip. Matt and Erin arrived in Colorado on Friday, spending Saturday exploring, hiking and eating. Matt had been working on the proposal for a while. Matt made "plans" and convinced Erin that they were meeting a friend for a morning hike on Sunday. That Sunday morning Matt and Erin took a trip to the lake to meet up with "friends," only to have Matt get down on one knee to propose to Erin and have a photographer capture it all. They spent the rest of the day taking photos around the beautiful lake and mountains, going on a snowy hike, and enjoying the excitement of being newly engaged <3.