Frannie was visiting her friend from college, Carie Kempton, when she was roped into joining the Kempton family for lunch at a restaurant. When Frannie walked in and sat down, Carie's brother-in-law smiled at her from the other end of the table. Within minutes, he had switched places to sit beside her. They discussed Star Wars and Scrabble before deciding to watch The Two Towers together at Carie's house later that day. But at the end of the weekend, Frannie left Wilmington to return home to Columbia, SC. The two kept in touch by playing Words with Friends on their phones (Nick beat Frannie 9 times out of 10). And then in October, Nick asked Frannie out on a date. They were soon talking for hours on the phone every night before Frannie returned to Wilmington for their date on November 2. Less than a year later, Frannie moved to Wilmington to be closer to Nick.

Preparing for the proposal was no easy task. Nick had the bright idea to try and recreate their first date: dinner at a local restaurant with an added stop at a local ice cream parlor (because neither Nick nor Frannie had wanted to end their first date quite yet). He also wanted to surprise Frannie and ask her on the anniversary of their first date (11/2). When he called her parents to ask them both for their blessing, he told them of the plan and asked them to keep it a secret. Frannie, however, has excellent deductive reasoning and is ridiculously smart. As a result, she figured out Nick's whole plan a month before the proposal date. However, Nick had one more trick up his sleeve: instead of Monday 11/2 (because who likes Mondays?) he took the Friday before off of work and asked her to come over to his house for lunch. When Frannie arrived, Nick was ready with her engagement earrings in hand. He got down on one knee (and was joined by his furry cat companion/wingman, Tiberius), and asked Frannie to marry him. She said yes. (I mean, obviously, she did, because otherwise I, Nick, wouldn't be writing this right now, but it still feels really good to write it out.) They then feasted on burgers and ice cream pie, and had a wonderful day.

Due to the pandemic, Frannie and Nick have chosen to get married at their local courthouse in January. While they dearly want to celebrate with family and friends, they don't want to risk anyone's health and safety. They also don't want to put their lives on hold because of the virus, which is why they decided to get married on January 7.