Laura and Brad first met shortly after Laura moved to Atlanta to begin her Master's degree at Emory University. A group of Laura's friends from her Master's program decided last minute to meet up with some Emory medical students at a Halloween bar crawl in Midtown. One of Brad's best friends from Georgia Tech (his Best Man in fact!) was an Emory medical student that happened to invite Brad on the bar crawl as well. So through a web of Emory graduate students, Laura (not wearing a Hallowen costume herself) first met Brad dressed as Emmet from the LEGO Movie complete with a stick-on mustache in the midst of a Halloween bar crawl. Brad quickly realized his post-undergraduate time as a bachelor would be short-lived!

After 5 years of dating, Laura began her first semester of her PhD program at Emory. Laura and Brad went on vacation to Europe the week of Labor Day. Given that they were spending a few days in Paris, many of Laura's friends were convinced she would be coming home engaged. But, it wasn't until right after they got back from the trip that Brad enlisted Laura's friend Mo to help him pick out an engagement ring. A mere three weeks after their trip, Brad asked Laura if she wanted to go hiking that upcoming weekend as that is one of their favorite activities to do together. Much to no one's surprise, Laura responded with "Don't you know how much homework I have? I don't have time to go hiking!" Laura finally admitted that a hike would be a great stress reliever and agreed to go hiking at Sweetwater Creek that weekend. Brad fully committed to the idea that they were going "hiking" by putting on sunscreen and bugspray in the trailhead parking lot, packing water bottles, and wearing hiking shoes. Within 10 minutes of the hike and standing next to the Chattahoochee River, Brad proposed! Check out the back of the Save the Date card to see the picture that was taken right after they got engaged!