~ We are so excited to be starting our lives together as husband and wife and can't wait to celebrate with all of you. Thank you for all of your love and support! ~

After attending the best (DDMF) and second best (GoPack) colleges in the triangle area of NC, Dustin and Tia's paths would soon cross due to the wonders of online dating. Believe it or not they actually matched on multiple dating apps before ever meeting in person. They ended up messaging for a bit on Bumble and first met on March 14th, 2020 (RIGHT BEFORE COVID). On that fateful day Tia was out at a bar in downtown Raleigh with some friends when she texted Dustin "What are you up to" (little did he know, she was looking for a free Uber home). Excited to meet the girl he had been talking to for a little while, he hopped into action and went to pick her up! They picked up hibachi on the way and got to know each other over the next hour or two until Tia was sober enough to go back and get her car. Tia, knowing she met someone she wanted to get to know better, reached out to Dustin the next day for "good walking trails in the area". Meanwhile, Dustin not picking up on context clues at all, sent a comprehensive list of parks and didn't think anything of it. The next day everything shut down from COVID and Tia went back up to Richmond to hunker down with her family. They spent the next few weeks talking via text, phone call, and Facetime. That was until they decided to really get to know each other by getting an Airbnb in Wilmington, NC (where Dustin later popped the question). After that trip, they never looked back. On some level that was when Dustin knew he wanted to be with Tia. In June of that year, Tia returned to North Carolina and spent most of her time with Dustin. On July 20, 2020 Dustin officially asked Tia to be his girlfriend by cooking her salmon and pasta from scratch. This marked the beginning of him cooking her dinners for the rest of time. The first year of their relationship was spent in the thick of the pandemic. They were both working from home which made for cozy days on the couch binge watching Top Chef and occasionally hopping on work calls. During this time, Dustin witnessed how much of a fanatic Tia is when it comes to Duke Basketball and Dallas football. They learned to embrace each others fandoms (Panthers, NC State, Duke, Cowboys) except for the rare times their teams play each other. With Dustin's teams, it's usually not much of a competition... About a year into the relationship, Tia got accepted to graduate school in Austin, TX. Dustin knew immediately that he wanted to move with her, while Tia and her anxiety had other thoughts. They ended up deciding to go for it and made the long trek to Austin with two dogs in tow, becoming one of the best decisions Tia ever made. Since then, Dustin and Tia have been enjoying their life together traveling, watching sports, attending weddings, and exploring the best happy hours in town. On November 20, 2023 Dustin took Tia back to Wilmington where they shared some of their earliest memories together. They reflected on their first trip there before Dustin suddenly got down on his knee and asked Tia to marry him. She burst into tears before saying "yes" and joining her family who Dustin had invited to celebrate. And that is only the beginning... ~ We are so excited to be starting our lives together as husband and wife and can't wait to celebrate with all of you. Thank you for all of your love and support! ~