Elyse and Pete’s first date took place at a park in Charlotte, NC where they took their dog Harper for a walk before grabbing a bite at a nearby dive bar. However, the date started off on an unexpected note—Elyse’s GPS mistakenly led her to the middle of a graveyard bordering the park. For a brief moment, she wondered if Pete had a very unconventional idea of romance. Luckily, once she found the right spot and realized Pete was, in fact, normal, they spent the next five hours deep in conversation about life, their interests, and everything in between. From the very beginning, their connection was undeniable. Even before they met in person, their first phone call lasted nearly three hours, and when Elyse hung up, she had a passing thought she couldn’t shake—"Wow, I could marry that guy." The timing wasn’t right back then, and life took them in different directions, but neither ever quite forgot about the other. Looking back, it’s clear: they were always meant to find their way back together. Months later, Elyse reached out to check in, not knowing that one message would change everything. As they reconnected, conversations felt easy, laughter came naturally, and they quickly realized they had found something special. Since then, life together has been filled with travel (mostly to other people’s weddings), Sunday BBQs where Pete gets to showcase his "Pit Master" skills, backyard bonfires worthy of a lumberjack’s envy, puzzling marathons, and endless outdoor adventures with their golden retriever, Harper... mostly to the mountains in North Carolina.