We met the old fashioned way — on Tinder! Rita was Nick’s first tinder match and we instantly connected over records we’d bring to a desert island, live music, and movies so-bad-they’re-good. We decided to meet up later that week at the Coffee Hound in Normal, IL for our first date and talked all afternoon. Rita worked at Waiting Room Records and Nick started hanging out there a lot more than usual, curating music for us to listen to in the shop. We started going to concerts together, frequently driving up to Chicago & back in one night! The first concert we saw together was Protomartyr at Lincoln Hall - still one of our favorite venues - and we knew then that we wanted to be together. It wasn’t before long that we fell in love, going to many more concerts, new cities, and tons of record stores along the way.

After watching Les Miserables downtown, we stopped into a local jukebox bar we had yet to try, the Owl. Nick pointed out the photo booth in the back of the bar & we got a couple of High Life's (the champagne of beers) to wind down after seeing our favorite musical. There was a band about to start in the back, so Rita suggested they take some photo booth pictures before it got too crowded. We pulled the curtain shut behind us, sat down, and right after the first flashbulb went off, Nick asked Rita ... “So, will you marry me?”