Catherine & Clayton's Wedding

Our story begins like no other. On the fateful night of August 27th, 2020, Catherine Santiago was walking down the beltline in Atlanta to the cafe she frequented every Thursday when she received a group call from her best friends Michelle and Tiff. Knowing Michelle’s tendencies towards the melodramatic, Catherine immediately opened her phone to catch up with her old co-workers. At that moment, a boy named Clayton Feustel was running to the same cafe to submit the dissertation he had spent the better part of his 20’s completing. Distracted by her best friends, Cat didn’t see Clayton approaching the same cafe door as she swung it open wildly, as she was wont to do. Thousands of pages went flying into the air, catching the wind and getting dragged into the unknown along with Clayton’s hopes of a long-awaited escape from educational purgatory. “I’m sorry…” Cat trailed off as she looked into the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen. Thus ends the meet-cute we agreed to tell people. But, in truth, our real story is much more common: we met on a dating app---Bumble, to be specific. Though our story will not be the content of next year’s Hallmark movie, it is no less magical.

When my online dating profile appeared on Cat’s phone, the first things she noticed were my eyes and my beard. In her own words, her first reaction to my profile was: “Those eyes, grrrrr! With that beard, stahhhhpppp!” If you ask any of her friends, it was obvious to them why she swiped right: I perfectly fit the “mountain man” aesthetic that she was known for pursuing. Beyond being lumberjack-chic, my pictures made me look sweet and adventurous---at least according to Cat. Bumble rules required Cat to send the first message. After carefully studying my pictures and re-reading all my profile questions and answers, she landed on the perfect opening pickup line, a waving emoji. If anyone has talked to me about how we met I am sure you have heard, if not multiple times, about the infamous waving hand opening message. I like to joke that she is lucky that I responded to such a milquetoast introduction, but in reality she could have sent a “ . ” and I still would have responded. The girl I saw in the Bumble profile was gorgeous with an obvious charm that was captivating enough that I was willing to put the work into actually starting a conversation. While her pickup line left something to be desired, the chemistry between us was immediately clear as we began to talk. We shared a similar sense of humor and way of communicating that made conversation effortless. Inside jokes were referenced and re-referenced so many times that it became unclear what was real and what was a call-back to our first chats. Confusing, sure, but this was the most fun either of us ever had over Bumble chat. Because we shared an interest in videogames, I suggested we play Overcooked. COVID meant we could not play in person, but thankfully I had a solution. All it required was for Cat to download and install a program she had never heard of before that enabled remote access to her desktop. Because of Cat’s trusting nature and some frequent absences from IT training courses, she was happy to download the program. The game was not perfect. Sharing a remote connection to my desktop made the game laggy with random points where the video would fully cut out. I am pretty sure we spent the entire two hour date trying to beat one level. But that didn’t matter; we had a blast just talking and jokingly accusing one another of sabotage whenever a controller stopped working causing the character to run offscreen as a pot of mushrooms caught on fire. We both walked away with something important from that first virtual date. Cat left having met someone truly special, and I left…with bank details. Remember kids, don’t download random programs sent to you by a stranger, especially strangers that look like they just completed the Appalachian trail. After an outstanding first date and days of constant texting, we arranged to meet in person. One thing we learned about each other during this time is that we both loved musicals and were undecided on how we felt about the recent push to do live-action re-releases of Disney classics. Watching the new live-action Mulan was, therefore, an obvious choice. Choosing a movie date, even if it was just the two of us due to theaters being closed, was a risky choice for a second date. I will admit that the way I watch bad movies/TV shows drives some people crazy. Sometimes the pull to critique is too strong, compelling me to add my personal flair of commentary to the program. I did not know that the live-action Mulan would be the type of film to evoke that reaction in me when we selected it. But within the first five minutes, I was exclaiming to the screen how Mulan deftly performing magical parkour contradicted the message of the animated movie. Instead of being put off by the comments, Cat seemed to enjoy them. In fact she joined in, revealing her shared interest in heckling bad movies. We spent the rest of the runtime riffing on the movie. It was magical (just like live-action Mulan for some reason).

Watching and reacting to cheesy reality TV or “big city girl, small town guy” tropes in Hallmark movies became an important way that we bonded with each other and later with my family (Chelsea’s Hallmark bingo card is a fantastic way to liven up our annual Christmas Rom-Com Binge Fest). This early bonding through jokingly critiquing tv shows and a deep appreciation for call-backs is what led me to create an entire Love is Blind set for the proposal, which you can watch on the website. (Remember to Like and Subscribe!) Since the two first dates our love has only deepened as we continued to integrate our lives. We’ve participated in each other’s over-the-top Christmas traditions. Cat was initiated into the all-day Feustel Christmas by preparing her first present scavenger hunt at 3am on Christmas Eve. Clayton tore up the slopes at the Quintannual Santiago Christmas Skiing Bonanza adding his flair with custom Cricut shirts. We’ve traveled together, watched every musical and play that the greater Atlanta area has to offer, and, of course, watched an alarming amount of terrible TV shows and movies. While the agreed upon meet-cute never actually happened, our real story has blossomed into something far more meaningful than a chance encounter. And that story is just beginning.