Emily and Zachary met in an anthropology class during their senior year of college at Emory University. After graduating, Emily moved to Scotland and Zachary stuck around in Atlanta. When Emily returned to Atlanta in 2012, she ran into Zachary at the Candler Park Music Festival. They struck up a conversation about environmental justice, and soon after, Zachary asked Emily out on a date via Facebook. They dated throughout that summer but went separate ways in the fall as Zachary prepared to hike the Appalachian Trail. Throughout the following years, their lives remained intertwined through their shared love of the Lake Eden Arts Festival (LEAF), contra dancing, and their awesome mutual friends in Atlanta. In 2016, while Zachary was home for spring break during his first year of law school, he and Emily went out for a night of contra dancing. They both knew something was different this time around and decided to "test the waters" of dating when Zachary went back to Duke. He invited Emily to the Barristers' Ball (a/k/a "law prom") a few weeks later, and soon after, they decided to dive headfirst into a long distance relationship. Despite the challenges of distance, they quickly realized that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together (even before they'd worked up the courage to say "I love you!"). Over the next two years, they made biweekly visits between Durham/D.C. and Atlanta, became experts at finding the funkiest AirBnb's possible for weekend getaways (pro tip: there is a great renovated red school bus in Gaffney, S.C. halfway between Atlanta and Durham), and started to build their family of four (Zachary, Emily, Ellie Mae and Luna). Dozens of plane flights, hundreds of FaceTime hours, and thousands of text messages later, they're done with long distance and are so excited for this next phase in their lives together!

After spending a lovely Christmas 2017 with the Hennessee/Fenoglio family in the mountains of North Georgia, Zachary and Emily headed north on a week-long trip that Zachary had secretly planned. Emily had a feeling that Zachary was going to propose on the trip but had no idea when and where the special moment would occur. Their trip began in Grayson Highlands State Park in southwest Virginia where they embarked on Emily's first winter backpacking adventure. They hiked several miles along the Appalachian Trail and saw one of the park's famed wild ponies and a beautiful sunset through the ice covered trees. After enjoying a delicious dinner of ramen noodles and Snickers, the cozied into their new winter sleeping bags and braced themselves for a chilly night that dropped into the single digits. The next morning, they planned to set off for another night of camping, but due to Emily's cold toes and a water filter malfunction, they decided to head down the mountain and find a warm hostel for the evening. Emily could tell that Zachary was bummed about cutting the camping a night short and was convinced that there wouldn't be a proposal during this leg of the trip. On the windy hike down, they stopped for a snack break overlooking a breathtaking ridge. After finishing their organic fruit snacks, Zachary asked Emily for seconds. She reached into her bag for more, and when she turned around, Zachary had a knee in the snow and a ring in his hand. She was in total shock as Zachary expressed how deeply he cared for her and asked her to marry him. Emily immediately said "yes!" and they took a whole bunch of selfies to document the perfect moment. Two days later, while staying at a yurt in rural North Carolina, Emily proposed to Zachary while eating dinner cooked on a hot plate. Not surprisingly, he also said "yes!" Zachary is also wearing an engagement ring to show the world his commitment to Emily.