Jim and Laura had known about each other since their freshman year at Lehigh University. They waved hi across the dance floor at parties and shared brief conversations but only crossed paths through some of their mutual friends. But, during November of their senior year, Laura's sorority had a date party planned and she could not think of any "date" she would want to spend 4 hours with. Laura had already paid for two people to attend the date party, so naturally she thought it would be a waste of good spirits to not bring a date. As a last ditch effort to find someone to go with, Laura asked her sorority sisters if anyone had a friend who would want to come to the date party and the future couple's mutual friend, Lauren, mentioned that Jim wanted to come (which may have also involved Jim skipping out on another sorority's date party on the same night). At the date party, Jim let her wear his sweater when she got cold. He talked to Laura's friends and their dates, getting to know Laura a bit more. He even sang Taylor Swift songs with Laura all night. At the end of the night, Laura texted her mom a picture of Jim and Laura together saying "This is Jim. He's my friend." But, after dinner at a sushi restaurant that Laura didn't realize was actually a date and dinner at a Bill Wheeler-recommended New York City restaurant over Winter Break, the two turned from "Lehigh party" semi-friends to inseparable partners like it was a trope straight out of one of Laura's favorite romantic comedy movies.

On Saturday, May 7th, it was an unseasonably cold, windy, and terribly rainy day. Laura believed there were no plans for this Saturday, so she got up early but made sure Jim could sleep in. In the afternoon, Jim offered the idea of getting a drink at a local cocktail bar with some friends at Pier 17 in FiDi. On the walk there, the horizontal-falling rain nearly soaked through both of their jackets, but the location was way too close for Jim to convince Laura to get an uber ride there. When arriving at the cocktail bar, Jim said they needed to go through a different entrance by the end of the pier because he "wanted to see the water". While Jim had done a good job shielding Laura from many of his ruses in the last 24 hours, at this moment, she knew something was happening. But, before she could think, he got down on one knee at the end of the pier in the neighborhood that both of them have called home for the past 3 years. The newly engaged couple then celebrated the happy occasion with some close friends and family who braved the unfavorable weather that day to meet them at a local spot for food and drinks.