Gina and John’s story began in October 2016, while Gina was living in Winston Salem NC and John was in Charlotte NC, about an hour and a half away. They found each other through Match.com, but there wasn’t really an online dating period to speak of. John read Gina’s profile, liked what he had seen, and simply asked if she would like to meet up for a drink. For their first date, the two met up at 2520 Tavern in the Winston Salem area on a Friday night. “From day one it was like being around an old friend," John says. It was later that first night that the nickname ‘Sweet Gina’ was dubbed, while John was driving back home and on the phone with his sister-in-law, explaining how well the date went. John was so enamored by Gina that he broke the ‘3-day rule’ and asked her out on another date very soon. They met up again just a few days later when John drove up to Winston Salem again on a weeknight after work for dinner at 6th and Vine. After dinner, while dropping off Gina at the front door of her downtown apartment building, they shared their first kiss! For the next 10 months, the two would exchange turns driving to one-another’s city to spend almost every weekend together during that time. By September 2017, they decided to move in together, and Gina moved back to Charlotte, where they now live in the South End neighborhood.

After getting the green light from Gina’s father, John planned the proposal for Saturday December 16th, 2017. John told Gina they were meeting friends for a drink before heading to dinner, but John had something better planned. While on the drive into Uptown, Gina noticed John’s hands were clammy and started singing Eminem’s Lose Yourself: “His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy.” Normally amused by this sort of thing, John barely noticed as he was so focused on what he was going to say when he would propose in just a few minutes. After getting out of the car, rather than head directly inside where they were supposed to be meeting friends, John asked if Gina wanted to take a walk through Romare Bearden Park across the street since they arrived a few minutes early. “No,” Gina replied; it was fairly cool out, being the middle of December, so John had to force the issue and just begin directing Gina into the park anyway. While walking in, Gina’s heel got stuck in the sidewalk and John had to take an unplanned knee to help Gina break free, which probably would have been a great opportunity to propose, but he had hired a photographer that was blending in nearby to capture the moment at a slightly different part of the park. Once free and heels saved, and in location, John took to one knee again, this time with an engagement ring in hand. Shortly after the big moment, they joined friends waiting nearby to celebrate the occasion.