In January 2024, Matt saw Hannah’s profile pop up on Hinge. While Matt was immediately interested in Hannah based on her cute photos and answers to the prompts, he noticed Hannah had a photo with Emily Subash and went to OU. Knowing this, Matt asked one his best friends, Rachael McKnight, if she knew Hannah since Rachael and Emily were roommates at OU. To Matt’s surprise, Rachael did know Hannah since they were in the same Christian sorority! Even more, Rachael immediately raved about Hannah and was adamant that Hannah would be an awesome match for Matt. After Rachael provided some “gentle” encouragement to Matt to make a move, Matt asked Rachael to work with Emily to see if there was mutual interest. Rachael and Emily worked their magic and passed along Hannah’s number to Matt. Immediately, there was some strong chemistry as Hannah and Matt started texting before meeting up. In the week leading up to their first date, the text exchanges quickly became short stories (just ask Morgan Lind who was on a weekend trip with Hannah when she started talking with Matt) as they learned more about each other. Their first date was a classic at the mini-golf spot, Puttshack. Despite some nerves on both sides, Matt and Hannah had a wonderful night golfing and chatting at the bar. They both were eager to go another date, which happened just two days later. Since then, there have been so many more amazing experiences and memories including a Leap Day party (where Matt met basically ALL of Hannah’s friends), attending Dallas Symphony Orchestra concerts, a lake day with Matt’s family, an office re-design for Matt’s office, a solar eclipse party with Rachel Schultz, an OU game in Norman (Matt’s a bad luck charm), a trip to Chicago with Rachel Peace and Christian Smith, and a whirlwind vacation to Peru with Hannah’s family.

On January 5, 2025, Matt and Hannah started their Sunday morning in a typical fashion by attending church and grabbing lunch together. Matt had planned an outdoor portion as part of the proposal, but as Texas weather would have, a cold front rolled in earlier that morning. Undeterred by the weather, Matt suggested to Hannah that they go for a walk. Despite the suspicious suggestion of going for a walk when it felt below freezing with 30+ mph wind, Hannah agreed, now having a good idea that today was the day. Matt took Hannah to a local park in Plano and walked towards the creek running through the park. In the middle of the bridge over the creek, Matt dropped down to one knee and asked Hannah to marry him, which she happily agreed to. While Matt and Hannah were walking through the park and getting engaged, Ryan McKnight and Gustavo Villareal pulled up to the park (shoutout to Find my Friends). The initial proposal plans involved Matt and Hannah having a picnic in the park. With the uncooperative weather making an outdoor picnic impossible, the plan pivoted to Ryan and Gustavo (with a big assist from Rachael) setting up the same picnic in the back of Matt’s SUV. The picnic setup included several highlights and shared favorite things including photos, flowers (real and Lego version), backgammon, hot chocolate, and coconut cream pie. Perhaps the biggest surprise related to the picnic was a photo book with a 2025 bingo card. Inspired by the bingo card Hannah had made for herself for 2024, Matt created a bingo card for Hannah and Matt as an engaged and soon to be married couple with photo sleeves to add pictures commemorating different milestones over the course of the year. As of the writing of this section, Matt and Hannah have already accomplished 5 of the 24 squares. After enjoying the car picnic and Matt finally being able to tell Hannah about all of the details/stories associated with planning the proposal, Hannah and Matt went to Ryan and Rachael McKnight’s home for what Matt had dubbed a “small” engagement party. As it turns out, about 40 people were there ready to celebrate the engagement, with some friends coming in from Houston and as far as Seattle, Washington. Hannah and Matt felt so loved and celebrated by their family and friends – the engagement party was certainly a highlight and a part of the day Hannah and Matt will both cherish. So many friends and family played an instrumental part in planning and organizing the engagement party, which Matt and Hannah are extremely grateful for. We can’t wait to celebrate with all of our people in June!