Before our first date, I was hanging out with some friends and one of them (another Emily) kept asking me if I was nervous. Not really, I said. I hadn’t actually thought about it and had zero expectations for the date. This was in late 2020 and I had been on Hinge (where Emily and I met) really more as a cure for boredom, not to find a relationship. A week or so before the date we had a few exchanges on the app that were pretty unnoteworthy on both sides until Emily somehow brought up that she played the trumpet growing up. I found that funny and kind of weird. I think she was really nervous because she kept forcing that piece of information into each message long after it was funny. Anyway, we set up a time to meet. We agreed on Cosmic in South Austin. I would have been super nervous when I saw her walk up (Emily was and is way out my league), but she seemed a little disheveled from being a bit late as she couldn’t find parking. I asked her what she wanted to drink. She was looking at the menu like it was in a different language. It is mostly a beer place, so I asked her what kind of beer she normally liked hoping to help her narrow it down. She said that she didn’t drink beer. Guessing correctly that that would’ve been a red flag for me she quickly mentioned that it was because she was allergic. Offering some sympathy, I said that must have been really hard in high school and college when everyone else was drinking. That was when I found out she didn’t drink at all until her 21st birthday. She eventually ordered a cider and I remembered thinking that between that and the trumpet we probably wouldn’t have much to discuss. This would be quick. But when we sat down and got situated something changed. We quickly realized we had similar senses of humor. It didn’t really matter what we were talking about but how we were talking. We were able to riff off each other while really talking about nothing at all. Supposedly later she told all her friends I was a total weirdo and she was probably just being polite to me, but I just remember her being easy to be around and fun. We didn’t talk once about the trumpet but some other better inside jokes emerged that would be in play over the next few dates. I walked her to her car and called an Uber. She waited with me and for whatever reason I got this picture of her posing with some construction thing on the side of the road. I guess that seemed funny to me at the time and to this day she talks about how weird it was, but she’s the one who got in there and smiled. That night, after we parted ways, I remember thinking I could really like this person which scared me a bit. I was very nervous for the next few dates. We had our engagement after party at Cosmic and snapped a pic together in the same location four and a half years later. [see gallery page for the aforementioned pics]

It was October 2020…I was bored and watching A LOT of Love Island. On a whim I downloaded Hinge and even though I instantly regretted it, I challenged myself to go on 3 dates before I was allowed to delete the app. Luckily for me, Jack was my first date. After our first date, I called all my friends to recap since they knew how nervous I was (and they were instructed to call 911 if they didn't hear from me after a couple hours). I told them about how the date was fun, silly, kinda weird, and easy. I didn’t know where he was from, what he did for a living, or any of the normal things I assumed people talked about on a first dating app date but I did know he was funny, cute, and he didn’t have a car but we could chalk that up to just a yellow flag I figured. From there on, I was impressed with how intentional my hinge date was in pursuing this relationship. He was studying for his CFP (which he passed 5 months later!), and between that and a full-time job, he didn’t have a lot of free time- but he always made time for me. Our relationship was natural, fun, and inevitable. I still feel that way 5 years later. Life with Jack is everything I didn’t realize I was looking for when I made that fateful swipe. He’s the best person I know, and I can’t wait to marry him and celebrate with all of our closest friends. We are so grateful to have you all in our life and to be celebrating with you in the city we love so much. Thank you for being there for us every step of the way. Let’s party!!