Our Story
Ben's Version: Part 1
Groom
We met on Hinge and had a really nice first date. But timing is everything, and it wasn’t quite right for either of us then. But Maddi had mentioned on the date that she was planning to start this new Rock Orchestra thing, and I told her to let me know if she ever actually started it (Maddi scoffed at me saying “if”; I didn’t know just how determined and impressive she was back then). Mere months later, Maddi was ready to launch the group and reached out to me (through the Hinge App) with audition info. Fortunately, she let me in. We then got to know each other organically through the Denver Rock Orchestra for ~6 months – as friends, and through a shared passion: music. We started feeling some chemistry when we talked after a while, but we both wanted to be cautious lest we make things weird in this community we share. But apparently things changed for Maddi after she heard me sing Hallelujah for our Shrek concert. After that, we started texting more. And, in what I now know to be a show of Maddi’s impressiveness (/deviousness), she marionetted me into asking her out on a “second first date”, making me think *I* was boldly asking *her* to go to a farmers market together to check out a new Philly soft pretzel cart (I should have known in hindsight). This second first date came at the right time for us.
Ben's Version: Part 2
Groom
I may have known a little faster than Maddi that this relationship was really special – like when I first told her “I love you,” to which she responded with “that’s awesome”. But I think we both knew it within several months – the easy things were easy, and the hard things were going well. It was pretty clear we both thought this was a long-term thing when, just 6 months into our relationship, we said yes when Maddi’s parents invited us to go on a ~3-week safari with them that was still 6-months away (twice the length of our relationship to-date). Unsurprisingly, the trip was awesome, and the four of us got along great. Around that point, it really was just a matter of time. Maddi would have been fine just to high-five and say we’re engaged, but I told her I really wanted to ask her at a time she didn’t expect (can you tell which one of us is the romantic?). Maddi would then joke, asking me often “are we engaged yet”? I’d reply with “you’ll know when we are”. So before our vacation to Mexico last May, I called her parents and her best friend, Alyna, to ask each for their blessing (they all said yes, though Elise, Maddi’s mom, first said “what took you so long!”). I did successfully surprise Maddi, proposing with a ring pop on a rooftop I had reserved in Merida. We then had a weeklong victory tour in Mexico to celebrate together. .