In their own words: "I remember Colin's incredible smile and great sense of humor coming through on her Hinge profile. She had a prompt that said 'Me During Fashion Week' accompanied by a photo of her in a wetsuit. Our first several messages back and forth had me laughing and I quickly realized that this could be something special." - Connor -------- "I took a chance on Connor since he was 6'6" and I had never dated someone that tall. His profile picture made him look a lot younger than his other pictures so I didn't know what I was getting myself into. I was relieved when I met him that first night on the corner of his street and he wasn't catfishing me! Connor seemed to get my jokes even over messages, which was a relief." - Colin

For their first date, the two went to Superica, a Tex-Mex restaurant in Krog Street Market for dinner. They were having such a good time they kept the night alive by stopping in for the grand opening of a new beltline brewpub, Brewdog. "To confirm the date, Colin sent me a voice memo while she was at morning recess with her kindergarteners... I had never been sent a voice memo and I'll never forget hearing her voice for the first time... We had such a good time on that date... I think our waitress came by our table 4 times before we were finally ready to put in our drink orders. We were having such a good time, we couldn't stop talking and laughing long enough to peek at the menu." - Connor -------- "Connor later made fun of me for 'aggressively' saying to our waitress before she even opened her mouth, 'no we don't know what we want yet!' after checking on us multiple times. At the end of our first date, I recommended a comedy special I had seen on Netflix. Connor had already finished watching it by the time I got home. The next day, I wanted to see him again ASAP, but was trying to play it cool. His body language on our first date night was a little anxious/nervous (he denies this), so I didn't know if he felt the same way, but I kept remembering how expressive his eyes were and how easily we conversed as complete strangers. I told myself, I'm pretty sure he had a great time too." - Colin

"Our second date is still one of my favorites. I was eager to see him again after our first date, and 4 days later felt like an eternity. Connor met me at my house and we had plans to walk to dinner from there. Connor texted me to let me know he had arrived, saying 'Aight. Just parked by the pool,' to which I said, 'Lol do you want to come to my door or do you want me to meet you by the pool?' Seconds later the doorbell rang. I made Connor come in and greet my roommate and her friends who had come over that night. I was testing his confidence, while also making sure I wouldn't end up on Forensic Files after our date! We walked down the street to a restaurant called Howell's. Once again, it felt easy and exciting to be in each others' company. This time, we were more prepared to order, but one of us nearly spilled our drink all over the table! When we were almost done with dinner, Connor said, 'Well I'm having a great time. Is there somewhere else we can go around here?' We crossed the street to a divey little bar called Mr. C's and enjoyed each other's company for another hour. After walking back to my place, we stopped outside my door and were already discussing how we'd like to do this again. Connor leaned in and kissed me--ahhhhh! The easiest and least awkward first kiss ever. Connor later critiqued himself for not being smooth, but I was on cloud 9 for days!!!" -Colin

“It is hard to pick just one favorite date, but one that stands out is when we went Christmas Tree shopping for our first Christmas together. I was team fake tree, but Colin insisted that I get a real tree for my apartment. We went to Lowes and took our time examining what felt like every tree on the lot. It was around closing time on a weekday and it was a lot more peaceful than you’d expect. We had a great time. For months, my plan was actually to propose to Colin while picking out our 2023 Christmas Tree in a recreation of that date… Due to the ring taking longer than anticipated, and the fact that I didn’t think I could go through with proposing at a home improvement store, I decided to pivot.” - Connor

How it happened, in their own words: "Connor casually asked what day I was free to get together on the Sunday before. I said 'maybe Wednesday or Thursday', but we didn't settle on which day until Tuesday night. Thursday it was. The plan was to cook dinner together. Connor said he had gotten brussels sprouts and salmon for dinner. I arrived later than expected, having just showered, with wet hair and leggings on. Connor had already started cutting up the brussels sprouts, so I started to help, and he reminded me of the errand we needed to run. I obliged and we set off to 'find his mom a Christmas gift.' I took the mission very seriously, scouring the small shop. Alas, the search was to no avail, and we headed home. As we were walking towards Connor's street, he started saying sweet things such as, 'I remember when I first saw you on this corner' and 'I couldn't imagine my life without you.' I thought nothing of it. He's always sweet. I was beelining it to his apartment, as hunger was starting to set in (and we had left the oven on)! He stopped me and pulled me in. I told myself to stop, slow down and be present in the moment. Connor kept saying complimentary things. I noticed he was tearing up, and thought, 'Oh, he's rehearsing what he'll say this weekend. I knew it!' Suddenly, Connor started unzipping his jacket to pull out...a ring! My first thought was, 'Wait, what?! Oh, this is happening now?!' Of course I said yes and only when we were walking up to his door did he reveal that we were actually headed to dinner at our favorite spot...with my wet hair and all. " - Colin -------- “We had plans to leave for the beach on Saturday 12/16 for Colin's winter break. I was pretty sure that Colin was expecting me to propose on that trip, so I knew I had to do it before we left town to ensure she was surprised. I had been hoarding reservations for our favorite restaurant (Boccalupo) for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of that week so I could casually let Colin unsuspectingly pick our date night. Our plans bounced back and forth between Wednesday and Thursday. On Tuesday, we settled on a Thursday night date night. Game on. Colin came over after work that day. Before cooking dinner, I convinced her to walk with me to a local shop to help look for Christmas gifts. I was ready to leave the store after about 3 minutes but Colin took the mission very seriously. She did a full lap studying every product as I nervously did laps around the boutique. Intentionally, the walk home was the same route we took back to Colin's car at the end of our first date. When we got to the street corner where we first saw each other and said goodbye on our first date, I stopped. Colin kept it moving. She was cold and hungry. I pulled her back into my arms and pointed to where she had parked her car on the night of our first date. I proceeded to fumble my way through a few sentences I had been rehearsing all week. Colin was nodding along as if to say 'Yeah, that's great and all but it's cold outside and we need to start cooking dinner.' Her expression changed when I unzipped my jacket and took out the ring box. I got down on one knee. I think my voice cracked, but I was able to ask her if she would marry me. It's all a blur but I remember she said 'Yes!' followed by 'THIS was unexpected!!!!'" - Connor

We are so happy to be able to host our friends and family in the neighborhood where we first met and have built the foundation of our relationship, Atlanta's Inman Park. We can't wait to celebrate with you!