Our friends Nicci and Matthew organized a group of friends to go on a cruise to Mexico. John did not make a great first impression when he tried to convince everyone at the table to order something different so everyone could share and try everything on the menu. Throughout the cruise, though, Laura and John got to know each other better and ultimately became friends.

John drove down from Indianapolis to Atlanta to make their first date. They had brunch at Henry's in Midtown before spending the afternoon at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. They were having so much fun together that they decided to grab dinner together at Bartaco and dessert (cookie dough and ice cream) at Batter next door.

John and Laura finally put a label on it - mainly so Laura's cousins wouldn't refer to John as Laura's "not-boyfriend" when they met him the following day.

When Laura and John first started dating, they would often drive to meet halfway in Tennessee. Their favorite of these trips, featuring lots of fall foliage and beautiful views, was the inspiration for hosting their wedding in Tennessee.

The day after Laura's 30th birthday, John enabled Laura by going with her to look at puppies rescued by iWag. They immediately fell in love with Pepper Jaclyn, and Laura was able to bring her home a few days later.

John made the drive down to Atlanta from Indianapolis and moved into an apartment complex a few minutes away from Laura's condo.

Pepper convinced Laura and John to buy her a house, and on October 29, 2021, they closed on a house with a fenced-in yard for her. Following a series of updates to the house and movers of varying competence levels, their households were finally combined just in time for Laura's family to visit for the first time that same day.

John not-so-sneakily planned to propose to Laura at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, the location of their first date 2 years before. Through the help of their friends Sarah Elizabeth and Joel, John proposed to Laura in front of the Chihuly glass sculpture in the Storza Woods. They celebrated with a bottle of bubbly on the rooftop of Longleaf Restaurant in the Botanical Gardens and chuckled about all of the clues John accidentally dropped for Laura to have known about the proposal months in advance.