Say yes to blind dates.

It was Memorial Day in 2023 and Aiden had finished spending time with some of his friends over coffee. While many of his friends were talking about their dating app experiences, he had the thought that he could try casual dating too, but more of a set-up-by-a-mutual-friend kind of deal (didn’t your mom ever teach you not to meet up with strangers you met on the internet?). So Aiden texted his friend Mckenzie to see if she had any friends that she could set him up with. Mckenzie very excitedly suggested Lauren, but upon further investigation relayed that Lauren was not interested (“she’s really enjoying singleness right now”). That very same day, after being texted by McKenzie, Lauren went to a party for a friend that happened to know Aiden from church. “At the very least, you will make an amazing new friend in Aiden Minter, you really have nothing to lose,” she was told. So it was settled, she’d try a date with this “Aiden” “Minter.” So Mckenzie updated Aiden that Lauren would be interested and gave him Lauren’s phone number. “Coffee, after church on Sunday? Perfect.” Neither Aiden nor Lauren expected to text much beyond the logistics of their meet-up, but they quickly found their text conversation to be way too much fun. They discovered that they had tons in common, including the fact that Lauren had a tattoo based off of one of Aiden's favorite choral songs. Sunday rolls around, and Lauren’s Apple Watch is reading 122 bpm as she drives from her church in North Raleigh to Morning Times coffee, downtown. Over an oat milk cappuccino and drip coffee, they talked for hours. Their first date turned into their second date- where Aiden played drums at a local bar and later hung out with Lauren and her good friend Emma. After the second date came the third- they went paddle boarding and Aiden wore crocs and brought a soggy pizza for their paddle board picnic. Luckily, Lauren stuck around after the crocs incident and they became “official” on July 8th, dancing to music and staying up until 4am talking. Slowly, the two not-so-hopeless romantics fell more in love as they continued their relationship through the year. The Lord brought many opportunities for them to grow in their love for each other, from double sprained ankle injuries, to a (very high energy) puppy, and plenty more adventures along the way! One night they ended up at Moore Square in downtown Raleigh for a movie on the lawn (Back to the Future, if you were wondering). Half way through, Lauren needed to refill her water bottle, so they popped over to Vintage Church (where Aiden attended) to refill. A quick stop in the sanctuary to see the stained glass turned into a slow dance, which turned into an “I love you” and then an “I love you too.” We’ll let you guess who said it first. On March 21st, Aiden picked Lauren up for what she thought was a spontaneous date to a downtown restaurant. They parked at Vintage Church and prepared to walk over to the restaurant. Aiden casually brought up how pretty the light must be in the sanctuary that time of day, and Lauren took the bait, practically begging to stop in to see the beautiful stained glass at golden hour. There, with the sunlight coming through the windows, in the same place that those three little words were first said, four more were shared (or asked, rather). And she said yes.