On February 13th, 2021, Jared walked into a Christian speed dating event in San Diego, California with very little expectations. He went to the event after helping the event coordinators with their marketing, despite his plans to move to Denver in May of that year. Catie was very slow and resistant to signing up for speed dating, but after a lot of encouragement from friends and exhaustion from online dating, she was up for something new! When Catie and Jared got their 4-minutes to chat during the event, they realized they both went to NAU. Jared was incredibly smooth as you'd expect (said no one ever lol). They both got multiple matches with other people, but after the first date, Catie knew Jared was special. In the early days of their story, Catie and Jared moved slowly. They like to now refer to it as a slow burn, where they focused on getting to know each other, building trust, and building a strong foundation. Fast forward several months, it was very clear that the relationship Catie and Jared were building was something special. In July 2021, Catie spent several days camping in the Sierra Nevada Mountains with Jared's family. It was on that trip that Jared knew that he was falling for Catie. In September of 2021, after a wedding in Flagstaff, Jared told Catie that he loved her for the first time while looking up at the stars. Several more months and a few trips later, Jared proposed to Catie on their dream trip to Costa Rica. They are now beyond excited to celebrate their wedding with you all!