Katie's story: It all began where every love story begins; on the internet. I was all up in those dating apps in my 20s, but the magical one where I met Lauren was called "Her." When I saw Lauren's profile, I thought to myself, "wow she looks really cute and normal." The normal part is a big deal because in the online dating world, you get to see all kinds of people, I mean ALL kinds. Later on, I also found out that Lauren had that very same first impression about me! I gave her a like, and it was a match! We instantly hit it off when we started texting each other. The way to my heart is a good sense of humor, so when she was able to keep up with my goofiness, my heart melted. We decided to finally meet up in person at a fun Friday event in Lexington called the Night Market. That night she not only got to meet me, but a bunch of my friends, my cousin, my brother, a couple of coworkers...the list goes on. It was as if we'd been together for 6 months and I'd taken her to a dang family reunion. Big yikes. After the Night Market ended, we decided to go to a late-night restaurant to have some food and drinks and just chat. Being the anxious person that I am, I barely spoke to her at the restaurant. I was so nervous that I could barely make words. Another big yikes. She then drove me home that night, where I proceeded to give her a really awkward car hug. As I waved goodbye, I thought that was the last I'd speak to her cause I thought I'd flubbed it all up. Somehow though, I ended up hearing from her the next day, so I'd charmed her in some special way. The rest is history. Lauren's Story: I first encountered Kathryn Lindsay Murray during one of my intermittent dating app sojourns in the spring of 2017. I was living in Richmond, Kentucky at the time while attending EKU for grad school. I distinctly remember sitting on my bed in my little apartment, scrolling through prospects on a lady lovin' app called "Her", when I came across a beautiful lady with the bluest eyes I (still) think I've ever seen. Our profile interests seemed to match up well and I was instantly a little smitten, so I decided to message her. I told her I wasn't on the app very often, left her my number, and invited her to text me. In true Katie fashion, it took a couple of months before I heard back from her, and for a while I assumed it just wasn't in the stars. We hit it off pretty immediately and fell into an easy rhythm of texting and meme exchange. After about a month, we decided to meet up in person at the Night Market in Lexington on June 2, 2017. I drove up to Lexington that evening, blasting Fleetwood Mac and feeling a little nervous. When I arrived at the Night Market, I began looking for the girl with the blue eyes. When I spotted her, she was sitting outside a small shop wearing a Broad City t-shirt, the first sign of many that this may indeed be the real thing. We wandered the market for a while, then decided to grab some late night food and drinks at Charlie Brown's. We sat on the patio, sipped sangria, and talked. Well, I talked. Katie was pretty quiet, but I chalked it up to first date nerves. For some reason I couldn't quite pin down, I pretty instantly felt at ease around Katie. I sensed a very kind and gentle spirit and that made me feel comfortable quite effortlessly. When we ended the evening, I knew I wanted to see her again. Eight years later, we've navigated grad school, fieldwork, moving states, changing jobs, moving in together (at the beginning of a worldwide pandemic), buying our first home, wrangling our cat zoo, and what to cook for dinner every. single. night. And now we're here, ready to take on the next big adventure: marriage.