It was 3 weeks before Clayton graduated from Cornell University. Kayla had not been on a date in 3 years and Alli Fay, Kayla's big in their fraternity, pushed Kayla to download the dating app Bumble. After less than 20 minutes, Kayla found Clayton's profile with the bio "London, UK". We matched and ended up talking until 3:30 am about everything from dogs to sailing despite Clayton having finals on Monday. Clayton asked if we could meet for dinner the next evening. A few hours before we were set to meet for Thai food, Clayton texted Kayla to mention that he was moving home to London for a few weeks and then to Seattle for graduate school. We decided to meet up anyway. By the time we got half way through dinner, we both knew we had to see where this would go. We went on 5 dates in those few weeks and when it came time to say goodbye, we already had tentative plans to meet up in NYC that summer.

In the summer of 2019 Kayla studied abroad in Vienna, taking horn lessons, speaking German, and learning about Austrian culture. At the end of the program, Clayton flew to Vienna to join Kayla and they traveled Europe, visiting a new city every 2 days. After a whirlwind trip through Berlin, Amsterdam, and Brussels, their final stop was the most romantic city of all, Paris! Clayton had planned the proposal in the morning (mistake #1 ), with a stealthy photographer and tickets to go up the Eiffel Tower. What Clayton had not factored in was the amount of time Kayla took to "glow up" for a day in Paris (mistake #2). Anyway, strolling over the Passerelle Debilly with the Eiffel tower in full view, Clayton handed Kayla a letter and then asked the all important question. Of course having to restart halfway through as he forgot to get down on one knee (mistake #3). With the affirmative, yes, from Kayla, Clayton took a big sigh of relief and they shared a special few moments together before attaching a lock to the bridge. Having missed their time window to go up the Eiffel Tower, Kayla and Clayton went off for a photoshoot with the photographer and to explore the city.