Ours is the classic love story of girl meets boy on a dating app. (Thanks Bumble!) I'm not certain, but I probably swiped right because I thought Zach looked cute in pictures with his rugby short shorts, but during a busy season of work, I let the cute rugby man fall off my radar.

Thankfully, Zach proved to be 100 times more persistent than any other man on a dating app (in a non-creepy way), and wouldn't let me ghost him. After a few weeks of texting, we finally found an evening where I wasn't traveling or photographing other people in love. 

Our first date at a local brewery turned into 7 hours of exploring Old Town Alexandria together, (including a not-so-scary ghost tour and a hidden speakeasy surprise for Zach) the conversation effortlessly flowing all the while. I knew I liked this guy when he let me DJ his radio and sang along with me to Chance the Rapper. I knew I REALLY liked this guy when he remembered my affinity for Chance and surprised me with tickets to see him in concert the very next week.

Almost three years, dozens of trails hiked, nine speakeasies discovered, countless charcuteries boards eaten, and exactly one giant ginger cat adopted later, my best friend knelt on the highest point in Shenandoah National Park in his rugby short shorts and asked me to marry him.

she says

of tacos, gym dates, and finally, eachother.

first comes love...

Call me a romantic but I never imagined I'd meet my best friend through a dating app. Yet in September 2016, I swiped right on a woman who seemed to share an uncanny number of interests with me: a love of camping, hiking and spending as much time as possible outdoors; a general interest in being a bit of a meathead in the gym, or at least finding new challenges that work up a sweat; a prioritization of traveling and exploring at home and abroad; and of course a fondness for food that sometimes toes the line of erasing all the aforementioned work in the gym. After several attempts at wooing her through text—and only a few days where I wondered if I'd been ghosted—Stephanie thankfully agreed to meet me for a date. 

I planned our first date to include some conversation over craft beers and a ghost tour of Old Town Alexandria. (A perfect choice, if I do say so myself, because I'm a big ol' history nerd and a history-focused "ghost tour" is the upper limit for anything scary for Steph.) What I didn't see coming was Steph's surprise that night, when we walked into what I thought was a local donut shop, where suddenly the wall moved and was replaced by a hidden speakeasy. I was smitten.

Since then, Steph has taught me the impossible conundrum of learning to slow down while also somehow stuffing fifty activities into a weekend, an especially useful trick as time has always been a precious commodity during our relationship, with her unconventional schedule as a business owner and wedding photographer, and my own packed days of working full time and attending grad school. I wanted to make sure we had the rest of our lives to spend our precious time together, so I took her to the highest point in Shenandoah and asked her to marry me.

he says