WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!

The story of how we met, and our first date, is really a tale as old as time. Boy meets girl...on the popular mobile dating app Hinge. We matched despite the fact that I [Alex] didn't have a single picture of myself more recent than 2012. I can't speak for her, but it was Lauren's incredible smile that first caught my attention. She had the courage to setup a date, and we decided on the Flapdoodles Ice Cream. I ordered "Cookie's and Cream," Lauren ordered "Cherries Jubilee," and somehow I managed to not hold that against her. The rest is history.

The story of the engagement starts in Chicago, of all places. Lauren had spent the weekend at a bachelorette party, and I [Alex] would be coming to pick her up early in the morning. My plan was to propose later that week, as I had prepared for the possibility that Lauren might not be feeling up to a proposal. However, when I picked her up, Lauren was radiant (as usual) and I knew right away that I wouldn't be able to wait. I was going to propose that day. The next people who knew were my mother, and future mother-in-law, after I hastily called them at a gas station. After a long drive home to Minnesota, I put my plan into action. I was going to re-create our first date. First, Flapdoodles. Only one problem, Lauren's weekend is starting to catch up to her, and I have to only slightly twist her arm to get her to accept my invitation (she would later tell me I should have dragged her out the door). After our ice cream, the next stop was the sidewalk in front of Lauren's former Rochester, MN apartment building. The very first place we met. At this point, my I am so excited and nervous, I have a not so slight shake in one of my right legs, but I somehow am able to spit out what it is that Lauren means to me, and the question, "will you marry me?" As you might have guessed, she said yes.