We met thanks to Matt’s prior roommate, Mac, who happened to know both of us and noticed that we shared a love for fishing and the outdoors. He decided we should meet, so he set us up on a blind date. It didn’t instantly turn into a relationship, but it did turn into a friendship. We were just in different seasons of life. Matt knew pretty quickly that he wanted to pursue Sarah, and Sarah needed a little more time to grow into that. Matt was incredibly patient, and instead of pushing, he met Sarah exactly where she was. So for about a year, we were just friends — traveling, going on road trips, fishing, spending time with friends and family, and slowly getting to know each other better. Somewhere in that time, Matt fell in love long before he ever said it out loud (and wisely waited to say it). Eventually, Sarah caught up to the seriousness and steadiness Matt had been offering all along, and when we started dating, it felt natural and right. Late 2023, as we started dating, we also started getting to know each other’s people - friends, families, and communities - in deeper ways. The next couple years were filled with lots of love and encouragement from friends and family, many of which are a part of our wedding party, who gently and lovingly encouraged us as we grew more serious. We endured some long, heavy hikes into backcountry campsites in Big Bend and all over Colorado, fly fished everywhere from the Guadalupe River to Corpus Christi and Colorado, and survived an 18-degree camping trip in Palo Duro as one of our first trips together. Thankfully Sarah’s ambitious travel plans didn’t scare Matt away. Our lives kept intertwining — Matt continued to gain Sarah’s dog, Mae’s approval (and eventually he agreed to getting their second dog together in 2024, June, who absolutely loved Matt from the start). So naturally, things were getting serious. Throughout 2024, we navigated other big life decisions like job changes, went to concerts, Sarah experienced her first Camp Meeting with the Perry/Harris crew, Matt discovered a love for baking (which only made Sarah love him more, since she has a deep love for food), and we continued to hunt, fish, travel, and build a life that felt steady, full, and shared. In spring of 2025, Sarah secretly took Matt’s sister-in-law Courtney to look at rings… not realizing Courtney would only keep that secret for about two days. Matt quietly took over from there and planned a proposal without Sarah suspecting a thing. In November, what Sarah thought was just getting together for Matt’s birthday turned into a perfectly planned day full of surprises. Matt proposed privately at Eagle Mountain Lake in Fort Worth, and afterward surprised Sarah with an engagement party with close friends and family who have walked with us through every stage of life. Now here we are — grateful for timing, patience, and a story that unfolded exactly the way it was meant to. We can’t wait to get married and start this next chapter together. And we can’t wait to have you join us to celebrate!