Someone wise once said the real love comes when you least expect it. In early 2016, if you had asked either one of us if we expected to meet our soulmate, we would have given a resounding ‘no.’ That October, Tori was starting her second year of grad school at The Rockefeller University, and had yet to find her niche in New York. Elyse was starting her career in the film industry, working an assistant job that mainly consisted of walking an executive’s dog; she was also burnt out from a string of bad dates. When Elyse made a post on a once-popular blogging website seeking queer friendship, she wasn’t expecting much of a response. When someone with a clever username (redacted) reached out asking to meet, she was quick to say yes, but wasn’t sure what to expect - was this a date, or a misguided rendezvous with a stranger from the internet? On October 6th, 2016, Elyse&Tori met outside the Blind Barber in Alphabet City, and it became instantly clear to both parties that this would be a date - though neither knew that it would be the last first date either would ever go on. On November 11th, after an evening spent watching the lesbian cinematic masterpiece CAROL, Elyse asked Tori to be her girlfriend - a mere formality, since both knew that they had found the one from that very first moment, though neither expected to find such a deep connection when they first messaged each other on Tumblr (yes, Tumblr). On October 6th, 2017, exactly one year after their first date, Elyse&Tori moved in together, shoving two people’s worth of belongings and two cats into a 352sq foot studio apartment. What might feel like a box to some became a cozy sanctuary for the couple, and the two realized that they had finally found that elusive idea of ‘home’ in one another. No grand proposal story here - Elyse and Tori both knew they wanted to get married, and selected matching rings that fit their personalities. On the 21st night of September they exchanged rings in Ohiopyle, PA.