Shanice and Tomas met on Tinder — even though Tomas had his search radius set to just one mile while he was attending Lehigh University. Somehow Shanice still appeared. Looking back, it almost feels like some invisible string was pulling them toward each other all along. Their first time meeting was at Tomas’s fraternity house, where the two watched Super Troopers in his room while a full-blown party raged downstairs. Shortly after that, Shanice ghosted him… for a few months. But Tomas didn’t give up. Eventually he reached out again and asked Shanice to meet him for New Year’s. When she told him she couldn’t, he mentioned he’d be in her hometown of Bethlehem for a poker tournament. The truth? There was no poker tournament — he simply drove two hours to take her to dinner. On January 2, 2014, they met at Emeril’s at the Sands Casino for their first real date. After dinner Tomas taught Shanice how to play roulette. They may not have won any money that night, but long story short, that night changed everything. After two years of long distance while finishing college, Shanice moved to Greenwich in 2016 and the two began building their life together — one filled with adventure, hard work, and a growing family of dogs. Together they built a home with their own hands, started a business from a garage, traveled the world, and supported each other through both the happiest moments and the hardest ones. Through it all, they’ve been each other’s safe place — the person who makes everything feel possible. In 2021, during a trip to Costa Rica surrounded by thousands of rescue dogs, Tomas proposed. Shanice said yes without hesitation. Eleven years after a fake poker tournament brought them to dinner, Shanice and Tomas are finally getting married. Because after all this time, they both know the same thing: they’re each other’s best friend — and the best thing that’s ever been theirs.