Shelby and Rocco met the way a lot of people do nowadays, a dating app. More specifically, Hinge, which will always have a special place in their hearts and is their first recommendation if someone is in search of their forever. For their first date, after a few weeks of chatting on Hinge and then by text, Rocco decided to come to Ocala and stay the weekend. The very first time they met in-person was for a nighttime zip-line course under a full moon. The next day they had dinner, and on Sunday they took a walk through a nature preserve. Since Rocco was in St. Augustine at the time and Shelby was in Ocala, they started what they like to call a "medium" distance relationship (1.5 hours from each other). This meant they couldn't see each other easily during the week but could spend the whole weekend together, which they did nearly every week for 1.5 years before moving to North Carolina!