We met through a random stroke of luck on a dating website - and went on our first date on April 12, 2017 at Northside bar in Chicago. After a decent number of reprehensible dates and Katie’s wallet taking a hit, Katie was not very optimistic about her prospects of meeting anyone, let alone a random person online – so Katie decided their first date would be at a bar that only served drinks, so she could escape easily if things went south. Katie remembers she was so nervous that she was very early for the date and lost her headphones right beforehand. Meghan was slightly late for the date (she told Katie she had lost track of time while running a 10k on the treadmill – which looking back was an obvious attempt to catch Katie’s interest via endurance sports). As soon as Katie saw Meghan in person, she thought Meghan was way too pretty for her, but figured she would give it a try anyway and see how things went. Meanwhile, when Meghan saw Katie, she thought immediately that she looked like Rachel Maddow (and was not at all mad about it). Our first date lasted six hours – there was an immediate connection and comfort level we had never experienced before – we remember talking non-stop only to look at the time and realize six hours had passed since we started talking. Meghan’s friends were tracking her on find my friends, and had begun to worry that Meghan had been stolen by some type of serial killer. Our next two dates also lasted six hours each (although the second date almost ended disastrously when Meghan was served a burger laced with cilantro) – we talked non-stop during those first dates and almost three years later, we still haven’t stopped talking since. A house, a dog, many international adventures, and a lifetime’s worth of challenging events in both our lives later, and our love together is stronger than ever. We couldn’t be more grateful for each other and all of the people in our lives that we want to celebrate our special day with us.