Luke and Michelle met in 2019 singing in the New York Choral Society. During choir breaks, Luke courted Michelle in the literal courtyard of the church we rehearsed in. On the Q train home every week we yapped breathlessly from the Upper East Side to Central Brooklyn, sharing book recommendations and trading predictions about how our concert repertoire was shaping up. When Luke worked up the courage to ask Michelle out and learned that she was seeing someone else, he was disappointed, but in his irrational-self confidence, he suspected he might get another chance. Two months later, Michelle agreed to a date. We made plans for March 13, 2020… and, thwarted again, COVID pulled us from a budding Brooklyn romance to our respective family homes in New York and Virginia. We stayed in touch, spending hours on FaceTime together. And eventually we plotted for a long-awaited first date. But we’d need to take drastic measures to make it happen. We booked an Airbnb halfway between New York and Virginia in Pennsylvania Amish Country. Michelle would rent a car for the occasion. Casual. We learned we were best friends. Michelle moved back to Brooklyn that fall and our partnership began in earnest. Two years later, we moved into our first shared apartment in Park Slope and Luke became a loving father to cats Whiskey and Pongo. In August 2024, Luke lured Michelle back to the church where they first met, where their choir rehearsed. In typical fashion, complications ensued: Michelle had contracted COVID the week prior to his date, and he maybe (definitely) gave away the surprise when he, for the first time in his life, had feedback on Michelle’s outfit on the day of the proposals. But this time, the stars aligned. He got down on one knee, and Michelle said yes.