We first met through a mutual friend at a bar in Nashville called The Local! A group of friends met up there on a Saturday night to go dancing. We were watching these two couples that were insanely good dancers, and I was ragging on Shane saying I bet he couldn't dip someone. He proceeded to ask me to dance, dip me, and make me eat my words. Not much came of that night until later that summer, when we hung out at a Fourth of July party. We flirted (quite a bit), and I ended up inviting him to a boat day my church was hosting later in the month. I may have fallen in love that Sunday... watching him interact with the kids, but also afterwards when we slow danced around my living room to Put Your Head on my Shoulder listening to the pouring rain outside. The following Friday, we went dancing with friends again in Bicentennial Park. Shane and I broke off from the group and spent most of the night dancing down by the Cumberland River by ourselves (well, other than a rather large possum and some guy filming weird tiktok videos). Two days later, we were an official couple, and I had finally had my first kiss! We had been talking about getting married since we first started dating 'cause when ya know, ya just know. Heck, Shane had even named our future kids three weeks in. So as the saying goes, first comes love then comes... a ring! We got all dolled up and went to the Belmont Barrister's Ball (essentially law school prom), where halfway through Shane told me we had to go RIGHT NOW because there had been an emergency with his brother. He took me back down to the river where we danced back in July and got down on one knee. He had had my friend Maegan set up all sorts of flower petals and candles, and the city lights on the river made it look like a dream. I said yes, of course, and the wedding planning began!

We met just last year on May 1st through mutual friends. I went to meet her at a little place by Centennial Park in Nashville: the Local. The Local is a nice little spot with good live music and dancing without all the overcrowding that makes Broadway not as fun as it should be. Our group of about six ended up at a table right next to the little dance floor. We all went back and forth with introductions and chatted before we saw a couple start dancing. That couple was really dancing--they were good. We were all impressed by how they glided across the dance floor, twirled each other, and ended with a dip. I mentioned that I like to dance and that's about when Lexi challenged me to dance with her. "I bet you can't dip me like that!" Not being one to back down from a challenge, I took her up on it. We swayed for a bit and, of course, ended on a dip. That's where it all started. We didn't start dating right away nor did we exchange phone numbers right away. It wouldn't be until the Fourth of July that we ended up at the same pool party by chance. This time, it was a lot easier to hear each other without music and we immediately started getting along. We clicked and had a lot of fun hanging out--and we saw some awesome fireworks together. She got to know me and I got to know her, becoming buddies for the day. It was definitely a Fourth of July to remember. By chance, that Fourth of July would lead to an even more important day: Boat Day. Lexi invited me to go on a boat trip with her and some of her church friends. It was a great day. We all rented a boat and had a great time out on the lake. Lexi and I bonded more throughout the day. It was this day that I knew there was a deeper connection between the two of us. Unfortunately, the fun in the sun had to come to an end when a storm rolled across the sky. We had to go back to the docks where everyone was content to call it a day. However, I wasn't ready for the day to end just yet. We started walking back to our cars and I decided to take a chance. Right before we got into our cars, I asked her if she wanted to get some food--so we went to Cookout. That doesn't seem like much, but it allowed us to spend time together one-on-one. We spent the rest of the night together just talking and hanging out. We put on some music on her record player and, somehow, we ended up dancing again. To say sparks were flying is an understatement. From there, the rest is really history. We started dating officially in late July. We started going to the same church together. We immediately jumped into planning our lives together. I just knew she was my person early on. I really look forward to the Wedding and to building a life together.