written in the stars

Ben's Story The first time I saw Kate was her dating profile on Hinge. Her pictures were cute, her responses were clever, and best of all, she had two cute dogs with her in her pictures! I sent her a message where we immediately hit it off, and after sending me her number, we settled on a time and a place to meet. We got some patio seating at Hugo's and talked about the usual first date things: what we did in school, what we do for work, our families, our interests, and of course, her dogs. Afterwards, we walked down to Dickson Street and ended up on a rooftop bar, talking more and more about family traditions and college party stories. It started to get cold, so we decided to move inside at about 10 o'clock. It was there that it became increasingly apparent how many strangely specific things we had in common; our love for scary movies and Criminal Minds, how comforting rainy/stormy weather is, our go-to late-night snack of cold pizza, how we bizarrely take note of license plates while we drive... And before we knew it, we heard the last call for alcohol on a Monday night/Tuesday morning. If the bartender would have let us, I know we would have been there until the sun rose. I can still remember that king-of-the-world feeling when she said that she wanted a second date! Kate's Story After matching on a dating app, Ben's first message to me was "Look at that pupper *heart eyes*." It was then that I knew I wanted to keep talking to him. We hit it off instantly and set up a date at Hugo's only two days later. After Hugo's, we moved on to get some coffee at Puritan where we sat outside and talked about our travels and taste in music. We ended the night at 21st Amendment. It was a night that I never wanted to end and, in a way, it feels like it never has. Our lives together have continued to grow from that night. Ben is understanding, patient, and is always ready with a deck of cards. I'm happy he's the one I get to talk to every night for the rest of my life.

After a few months of dating, deep conversations, and already a multitude of wonderful shared memories, I knew that Kate was the woman I wanted to marry. Once we had decided that we were going to get serious about us, we looked at rings so I could get a feel for what styles and materials she liked (and secretly let her pick out the ring herself)! I bought her ring in early March and hid it from her at the back of my sock drawer for two months. As soon as I got it, I went behind her back to reach out to her coworker to set up a surprise photo shoot for after we got engaged! Everything went perfectly, until the morning of May 9th, the big day, when I come over to Kate's apartment... where she's in bed with a migraine. I made sure to pamper her extra well with all the medicine and caffeine she needed, praying and hoping beyond hope that she would feel better by the afternoon. My prayers were answered when she was feeling good enough to dress up in her Sunday best to come with me to Church... Or so she thought, until we turned into the parking lot at Lake Fayetteville. "So, I might have lied about going to Church..." We walked out onto the dock, where our covert photographer snuck out behind us to capture the moment I asked Kate to be my wife.