Carson and Nicole met on November 18th, 2016 when they were set up as blind dates to Nicole’s sorority semi-formal by a mutual friend. The day before the event, Nicole’s original date cancelled. In a panic, she reached out to friends to see if anyone knew a guy who was available to come at the last minute. She got only one response back and without even knowing his name, agreed to go with a guy who was “sweet, but a little bit on the nerdy side.” Carson, on the other hand, received a text about being set up on this semi-formal while out celebrating a friend’s 21st in Athens. After consulting his best man Walter, he agreed to go, knowing he had a lot of other friends going as well. The next morning after a long night out, Carson drove back down to Atlanta, borrowed a friend’s suit, and headed to the party. The unlikely pairing was initially very awkward with each other (admittedly both were nursing hangovers from the previous night), however, once they got to the venue the two bonded over chicken nuggets while watching (read: judging) their friends out on the dance floor. They exchanged numbers and a few days later Carson asked Nicole out on a real date. While she kept him on his toes by taking 30 hours to respond to his text, she eventually said yes and the rest was history.

Carson proposed to Nicole while they were vacationing in Rincon, Puerto Rico - a small town on the western side of the island know for their surfing and beautiful sunsets. After dating for over 5 years, Carson knew Nicole would be difficult to surprise. Not only is she nosy but her family is terrible at keeping secrets (so asking her father for her hand in marriage could easily backfire). In order to make sure she didn’t find out, Carson had to keep a lot from her - choosing and picking up the ring in secret, hiding it from her for most of the vacation, and somehow setting the moment to pop the question without her catching on. While doing his vacation research, Carson found the perfect spot to set the scene - a boardwalk with a bar overlooking the shore with unobstructed views of the sunset. So on April 27th, 2022 with drinks in hand, Carson brought Nicole to go take in the sunset. As the sun got low in the sky, Carson asked if Nicole would like to take a picture, but instead, he set his phone for video to capture the moment. As he got down on one knee it seemed like he had pulled off the ultimate surprise - but what did all this secrecy get him? Not an emotional “Yes” or “Of Course” but an expletive laced “Are you f***ing kidding me?” before getting a hug and tearful “Yes”.