January 3rd, 2013; Heathrow airport, London UK. It's about 9 am in London, which means it is about 4 am EST. Exhausted and in desperate need of coffee, a girl sees a guy sitting on the floor listening to music, laughing (later to find that it was indeed at the ridiculous amount of luggage she had brought). Well, something about him seemed safe, trustworthy, and comforting... so much that she left him with all of her belongings, not even knowing his name. After an unplanned first date getting to know each other (& Brandon saving Jess from making a fool of herself in the Queue - hence our hashtag!), little did they know they would become best friends, the loves of each other's lives, and soulmates. A semester abroad that started out just as friends quickly escalated into a relationship neither Jess nor Bran expected. It was fun, but Jess was from PA (and at the time going to school in WV) and Bran was from CT.. so it just wouldn't work. That didn't last long, so the next thing decided was that we'd try long distance out for the summer. A year after long-distance between WV-PA-CT, Jess moved to NYC, just a short train ride away. Another year later, and we were living together in CT! Fast forward about 7 years, March 14th, 2020. What was supposed to be a weekend full of family, friends, running, and plenty of surprises (including a proposal in Central Park with everyone at the end of the half marathon!) turned out to be even better: an intimate hike, just Bran, Jess, and a little engagement ring. While May 4th has been an anniversary for many years, we are excited to begin the next chapter of our journey together! All the years of traveling, laughing, growing, learning, and loving.. to think it is just the beginning! During our time abroad, Brandon picked out a celtic ring on one of our last trips before coming back to America. We didn't know what it meant, it just said "Anam Chariad." When we asked, we were told it means "soulmates."