“Do you believe in aliens?” That’s what Lauren asked Zach in the first message they exchanged. Dating app messages led to drinks on a Thursday night in October. Lauren didn’t know how rare it was for Zach to be out after 8pm on a weeknight. Zach didn’t know Lauren had been on the single worst date of her life the night before and had considered never agreeing to meet up with a dating app stranger again. Neither factor kept the two from talking for hours and exchanging a first kiss in his car outside of her house around midnight. Inseparable is an overstatement, but their second, third, and fourth dates were had by the end of that weekend. Their relationship blossomed as the weather grew colder, and with January came exchanging of that coveted three word, eight letter phrase. In a dive bar full of friends after a beautiful weekend, Zach let it slip to their friend before he told Lauren, a few old fashioneds loosening his lips. By the next morning he came clean, and Lauren reciprocated. Time passed, love grew, and then the world shut down. They moved into their first shared home, filling the tiny house with lots of love and their beloved pets Francys and Valentine. They toiled away hours playing games, watching Francys boss Valentine around, obsessively sanitizing every bag of frozen vegetables that entered the house, and hoping that everything was going to be okay. Their love grew in the scary times too, the future feeling very uncertain except for each other. Then the good news came all at once - a vaccine, a new home, and, the reason we’re writing this story to begin with, their engagement. They exchanged letters and rings one night in their tiny house, surrounded by moving boxes bound for their forever home. They returned to the bar where it all started and spent the rainy night in April celebrating their new freedom and commitment. After lots of martinis and music and rain, Lauren ended the night by falling backwards into a mud puddle, kicking off their engagement with a bang. So now, four years after that long, sweet, perfect first date, Lauren and Zach invite you to share in the joy, love, and laughter of them committing their lives to each other - forever finding the fun in the day-to-day, and clinging to each other through what life has in store.