Our journey began when we matched on a dating app (Bumble), it was just before Bettylu's birthday in February 2019 when we began chatting. When she returned from her birthday trip, we decided to meet face to face. She picked the day, I picked the restaurant. She was so anxious to meet me, she arrived twenty minutes early haha! For myself, after several failures using dating apps, I was just hoping that she posted real pictures...and to my pleasant surprise, she was even more beautiful in person. We closed the restaurant, then we continued on to a bar across the street from the restaurant. I knew from the first day we met, she is very special. It was very obvious from the beginning that not only was she absolutely beautiful on the outside, but she is equally as beautiful on the inside and possesses a heart of gold. Nuestra historia inicia el mes de mi cumpleaños, Febrero 2019, nos conocimos por medio de una aplicación de citas (Bumble), estaba de viaje con mis papas y regresando decidimos conocernos. Escogí un miércoles (para que no me arruinara mis planes de fin de semana, nunca se sabe a quién vas a conocer, cierto?), el escogió el lugar, llegue 10 minutos antes (mujer prevenida) para asegurarme que todo era seguro ya que nunca había usado esta tecnología, tenía gente monitoreándome remotamente por cualquier cosa, hahaha. Acordamos por teléfono que íbamos por una copa, el mencionó que podíamos pedir una botella, pero le dije: “qué tal si no nos caemos bien? una botella es mucho tiempo”. Pero desde que entro al restaurante y lo vi solo pensaba en “pediremos una botella?”, y desde ahí supe que este hombre tenia muchas de las cualidades que estaba buscando. Llegando a casa: borre la app.

Bettylu was on a trip with her friends in Cuernavaca, Mexico in March 2020. Suddenly on the news it was announced that the border will be closing due to the COVID pandemic. At that moment, I called her and asked her to come back because if she stayed any longer, she could possibly run the risk of not being able to get back to Houston for a long period of time. It was during this time we realized that the natural progression of where we were heading was....to become one. When she returned, I asked her to be my beautiful partner forever. En un viaje con mis amigas, Marzo 2020 en Cuernavaca, Dan me llama y me dice “Te tienes que regresar, van a cerrar la frontera” esto era por la pandemia de COVID. Y yo solo pensaba “súper, me quedare más tiempo con mi familia” pero al oírlo tan preocupado y decirme: “esto llevara mucho tiempo, te necesito” ahí fue el momento en que supe que si regresaba era para estar juntos para siempre. Regrese ese mismo día, y fue ahí cuando me dijo: “Ok, hablamos con tus papas?” (hahahahaha)

During the first few months of the pandemic, everything was obviously closed, and I wanted to make sure that when I said forever, I meant forever. I was constantly checking the courthouse website to see when they would reopen. Finally, after weeks and weeks of checking the website, it was announced in July 2020 that the courthouse was reopening to civil marriages. I immediately booked the next available date to get the Marriage License. Unfortunately, family was unable to join physically due to the border closures/travel restrictions during Covid. However, we were lucky enough to stream the civil courthouse wedding ceremony on Zoom. We had over 150 guests join the zoom ceremony to watch our special day. We were also very fortunate to be able to invite several of the closest people in our lives to join us in person. We will always be grateful to them for joining us in person for that special day...thank you and love you Sarah, Julia, Brittany, Mikel and Alex!! Now that the world is returning to some level of normalcy, we are so excited to celebrate this next chapter in our lives with all of you. After November 5th, Bettylu and I will officially be married in both the United States and in Mexico. We cannot wait see all of you there as we celebrate one of the most wonderful days in our lives. See you in San Miguel de Allende! La Boda por el Civil fue un momento significante, el recuerdo más bonito es que fue Dan quien siempre checaba si el Court House estaba abierto o no, el entendía lo importante que era para mí tener formalizada nuestra unión ya que estábamos viviendo juntos desde mi regreso de Cuernavaca. Una vez que abre el Court House, hace la cita y nos notifican que solamente los novios. Fue difícil tomar este paso pues lo hice sin mi familia directa, pero nuestros amigos locales nos ayudaron para poder invitar remotamente a mi familia, tuvimos cerca 150 personas acompañándonos ese maravilloso día. Y con nosotros estuvieron apoyándonos: Sarah, Julia, Britt, Mikel y Alex! Alex fue el que me llevo al Court House y claro… llegue tarde, hahahaha, pero el ver la cara de Dan cuando llegue: no tiene precio. Ahora que todo vuelve a la normalidad, es para nosotros un placer invitarlos a nuestra boda, a seguir generando momentos en nuestra vida. Los esperamos en San Miguel!