From Tuscany to the Cotswolds

Both of us had just about enough of our respective dating scenes -- it's rough out there these days! Rob had recently moved back to London from Sydney, Australia and Lauren had leaned heavily into the "digital nomad" lifestyle that came along with the tail end of the pandemic, so was doing quite a bit of traveling while working in tech. After a 3-month stint in Europe, she decided her next stop would be London -- something was "calling her" there ;-) She booked a 3-week trip and we met the very first day she arrived in London. Needless to say, we were hooked on each other from day one, and the rest is history! Fun fact - right after we met, Rob actually tried to put a halt to any romantic endeavors with Lauren (because who in their right mind would get into a long distance relationship with a girl who lives in the states?!) but was still gracious enough to offer some local tour guide experience during her stay in London. It didn't take much longer before he ultimately gave in to our undeniable connection and constant laughs - and we both never looked back.

For the first 8-months or so of our relationship, we were fully in the trenches of a long-distance relationship, with Rob still living in London and Lauren back in Denver, Colorado where she's from. After quickly growing tired of the hefty time zone differences and only getting to see each other every other month or so, we got to work trying to formulate a plan to get Rob to the states. Rob immediately started conversations with his team at JP Morgan about potentially sponsoring his visa and moving him to the US so we could have a shot at a "normal" relationship. Thankfully, he was successful! So in early 2023, we both moved to New York. However, we very quickly realized that New York is...a tough place to live. Throughout the span of a year we managed to move 4 consecutive times trying to make the city bearable for ourselves, but ultimately accepted defeat and decided to relocate back to London in January 2024.

We're both huge travellers, and throughout the entirety of our relationship we've seen so many spots (16 cities & states, 7 countries and counting!) from Croissants in France, Michelada's in Mexico, food poisoning in Canada, to the best Single Malt Whisky Scotland has to offer! After a really tough year in New York, we decided to plan another trip to Europe, and in September 2023 we found ourselves in Italy roaming the beautiful countryside of Tuscany. Little did she know, Rob had been scheming with a family-owned vineyard in the hills of Montepulciano to propose amongst the vines. Needless to say, it was a no-brainer for her when he finally popped the question!