During the Summer of 2017, Russell Courtney (Liz's brother in law) met Hannes when he was an "extra" for a promotional video for Russell's non-profit. After finding out that they were neighbors on 8th Street, Hannes' company, Tree Worx was hired to remove several pesky trees from the Courtney's residence. It didn't take long for Kate Courtney to spy out the window at the handsome "tree guy". After sending her, then 3 and 5, year old boys outside to watch Hannes and his crews work, she noticed he was not only handsome, but very kind to her curious boys. After a series of text messages from Russell (that were encouraged by Kate) asking if Hannes was "single and ready to mingle" with their sister in Atlanta, the set up was scheduled. A few weeks later, Liz stopped in Chattanooga on a work trip and Hannes was invited for a cookout. From that night, Liz seemed to have more business in Tennessee that required stops in Chattanooga than ever before and the adventure began.