David - We met on Tinder, and I kept messaging Claire until she finally replied to me! I texted her on the way to our first date because I was going to be a bit late, and she said, "No problem, me too!" We didn't realize it at the time, but this would be the formation of the most tardy couple in history. I was so nervous because it was my first online date, but she was very sweet when we met (and pretty). I loved how different and honest she was. I had never met anyone like her, and I knew that I had to keep her around. We went on several more dates and fell in love. Claire - We swiped right on each other on Tinder (translation: we liked what we saw). Our first date was in Augusta, GA at a restaurant called The Bee's Knees. I had been on other online dates and been unimpressed, so I was pretty calm going into our first date...but when I walked into the restaurant and saw David waiting for me, he threw me off guard because he was so cute! He told me that ours was his first online date and I actually told him, "Really? Well, you're lucky it's with me--there are some crazy people out there!" He may be wondering if I'm still a crazy person from the internet, but I think he took my comment to heart.

Claire - We took a trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park the same autumn that we met. Once we made it to the top of our hike, David asked me to be his girlfriend and I was giddy. I knew that I wanted to be with him but it would be hard to stay together when I had to move for work several months down the road. After I found out that I was moving to Texas for work, David and I made a plan to visit each other and keep our relationship strong until we'd be living in the same state for once. (When we met, I lived in Georgia and David lived in South Carolina). Now, we live in Arizona together in a house we bought where we hike South Mountain as much as we can and tend to our plants (pray for our citrus trees!).

David - I'm so grateful to have met Claire and so excited to grow together and grow old with her. I wouldn't have any other. When I realized this, I decided to propose. My parents had bought an Aerial Geology book for me over Christmas, and one place that stood out to me was Triple Divide Peak in Montana's Glacier National Park. I booked our trip, and planned a multi-day backpacking excursion to make it to the peak. On the second day of the hike, we made it to the pass, where we searched for nearly two hours to find the unmarked trail to the peak. We gave up after a dangerous scramble and decided to have lunch. My heart sank thinking that I wouldn't get to propose at such an epic location! But not all hope was lost. Suddenly, I noticed a beam of light shining through the cliff wall! This was the opening we had been searching for. We made our way up to the peak where I proposed, and my darling said YES. It was darkening when we made our way back down to the pass, where we still had 7 miles and 3000' of elevation to traverse. We made it to camp after hiking 4 miles in the dark, through an overgrown thicket, surrounded by the sound of mountain lion calls and the constant threat of grizzly bear on the trail. We made several nervous jokes along the way that we would be planning our funerals instead of a wedding, but not on my watch.