John and I met near the end of June in 2016. We both swiped right, and that began our whole story! If you know John and myself, you can only guess the crude joke he shared to kick off the conversation, and how it went right over my head! He’s lucky I didn’t catch on at first, and he never lets me forget it!

We texted with each other for about 2 weeks before we finally decided to meet in person. He picked the place and the time, like a true gentleman! I think he was just trying to make up for the bad jokes he was throwing out there initially!

Our first date was magical. We decided to meet for Italian food (my favorite, go figure) and had a wonderful dinner. John was on some funky, no carb diet, which he didn’t inform me of until the food had already been ordered. So, there I was, eating all the pasta and watching him nibble on his. I thoroughly enjoyed poking fun at him for his choice of diet while at an Italian restaurant! Alas, after a few glasses of wine, we realized we weren’t ready to end the date. John suggested ice cream, and I knew the perfect spot!

We drove for awhile until we stopped at my favorite ice cream shop in the valley, King Kone! The reason I picked this spot was because there is a military plane on display, just behind it that was very special to me and my family. We ordered our ice cream, then made our way to the plane. We sat and talked for a bit, while enjoying our ice cream but realized the mosquitoes were out and rearing their heads. We called it quits and went back to his car. From there, we realized we still weren’t ready to end the date. We to an Arabic festival a few towns over and had a blast there as well. The night ended with us finishing our bottle of wine underneath the stars, sharing stories and music with each other. The perfect end to the perfect date!

The very next day, John was leaving the country to travel for a bit. We were in different time zones for over a month, but that didn’t stop us from talking every single day. I remember staying up past 2 am when I had class very early the next morning, but I didn’t want to sleep. I wanted to keep getting to know him more. Between texts and facetime calls, we started getting very close. When he returned, we saw each other that same day. We met for lunch, and then I was able to meet his dog (now “our” dog), Shep. Meeting John’s mom was one thing, but I knew I was “in” when I got to meet Shep! We were inseparable from that day, and Shep’s still my best buddy.

From there, we saw each other as often as we could while John was in his first “big boy” job, and I was finishing up college. We still saw each other nearly every week, commuting back and forth a ton—our relationship only grew stronger.

We moved into our first apartment in Columbus, Ohio at the end of December 2018 with our 2 doggos – Shep and Mya! We both have worked hard to excel in our careers and make our own paths in this life together. Last May, we bought and moved into our first House, and couldn’t be more excited to see what the next few years have in store for us.

All in all, what started out as a great friendship, quickly turned into the most special love story between two best friends. We’re so happy to be able to share our story and our special day with you!

Thank you for reading!

Registry