Kate: When I moved to Chicago in August 2016, an old high school friend, Liz, reached out via Facebook and we met up shortly thereafter. We caught up about the last 10 years of our lives and in the middle of the conversation she paused and said "you have to meet my friend Adam." I laughed it off, we finished our drink and called it a night. Adam: Liz told us that she had a high school friend move to Chicago and that she was going to come join us for some event or another. Kate didn't come. This continued on for all of the fall of 2016 to the point where we started joking about Liz's imaginary friend Kate. Liz never said she was trying to set us up, but the higher and higher levels of urgency that Liz had about us (and particularly me) meeting Kate made it pretty obvious what was going on. Kate: Over the next few months, Liz would invite me to hang out with her group of friends, never failing to mention that Adam might be there. One night, when I was going to a singles mixer through church, she texted me a picture of Adam, stating that he would be there and I HAD to find him. Adam: We didn't find each other. Kate: Liz and I hung out the week leading up to New Year's Eve. I already had plans lined up and she was unsure of what her group of friends would be doing, so we left saying that we would keep each other posted on plans. Adam: I organized some of us to go out to The Dawson for New Year's Eve. It was Mike, Connie, Jon and Liz. Liz said that her friend Kate might come: right... your "friend Kate." Kate: I get a text from Liz at 10:30pm on New Year's Eve letting me know their status. Meanwhile I'm at a house party with three couples so I have to admit the possibility of meeting the mysterious Adam was quite intriguing. I proceeded to take the next hour to contemplate how I was going to leave the party before midnight; finally I hopped in a cab at 11:30pm. Adam: At 11:55pm Kate walks through the door. Real. Live. In the flesh. Kate. And the rest is history.

Adam: Though Kate majored in French and studied abroad in France, I was originally hesitant about the idea of proposing in Paris. While obviously romantic, it would be cold and brown and likely rainy. To add to my hesitation, the Seine was flooding its banks a week before our trip to Paris. However, I had a ring burning a hole in my pocket and the entire world but Kate knowing I was planning to propose and I could not wait any longer to ask Kate to spend the rest of her life with me. Since Kate had been to Paris way more than me, she was doing lots of planning, which worked in my favor because it threw her off guard. So off guard that she even called her best friend Laur to tell her that we were going to Paris but that I was NOT going to propose. My good friend Mike had lived in Paris and helped me plan, thankfully our idea of proposing in front of the Eiffel Tower at night lined up with one of Kate's plans. Thankfully the Seine had started receding and the rain had stopped that Saturday night. We got a drink before heading over to the Tower and I was so anxious I started asking the most random questions to get Kate to keep talking so that I didn't have to. We got to the Tower and I suggested we walk to a vantage point near the Tower to get a better view. We were walking up a hill nearby and I saw a nice secluded place we could pull off for a good view. As we stood there I was about to go into my spiel when a motorcycle gang below us thought it would be a good idea to have an engine revving contest. They finally stopped and I turned to Kate to tell her how much I loved her, how much I thought we were perfect for each other, and that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. I pulled the ring box from my jacket that she managed not to see until this point, got on one knee, and asked her to marry me. She said yes!!!