On a summer night in August of 2018, Matt hosted a party with his roommates and downstairs neighbors out of their row home in Washington, DC. Invites went out to their local and college friends, one of which happened to be Emily, who went to the University of Maryland with one of the downstairs neighbors. At the party, Emily remembers Matt coming to the downstairs apartment and greeting everyone (she even remembers him announcing to everyone that he just got back from the gym). They later connected over the music selection, which Matt was DJing (of course), and while this interaction was brief, when Emily left for the bar, Matt knew he had to follow her. As soon as he caught up to her at the bar, they remember locking eyes and walking towards each other. They ended up talking and dancing the night away and by the end of the evening, Matt had worked up the courage to ask Emily for her number, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Matt had been trying to convince Emily to take a trip to Asheville, NC for over a year, but Emily had wanted to save her vacation for a trip abroad. When she finally agreed, Matt planned a full weekend of their favorite things, including live music, gluten-free dining, hiking, art, and cider tasting. During a challenging hike at Looking Glass Trail, Matt sped up the mountain out of eagerness (and likely nerves), leaving Emily struggling to keep up. Once they reached the summit, Emily wanted to sit for a few moments to catch her breath and admire the green valley spread before them but Matt had a different plan. Enlisting the help of a fellow hiker to take some photos, Matt and Emily smiled for a few shots and then Matt dropped to one knee, and through laughter and some tears of joy, he proposed. Time seemed to stand still as they relished in the moment, forgetting they were on the side of a mountain, with Emily eventually telling Matt to stand up, as his knee was becoming one with the rock beneath him (Matt still has the scar on his knee to prove it). As they stood up, the mountaintop rang with cheers and congratulations from the other hikers who had just witnessed their love reach new heights.