"I always thought when I got married, my kids would move up the alphabet for graduations. Whoops." -Kayla, age 29 "Listen, when I get married, I think that to save some hassle, we just have Outback and Moe's come in and cater the whole thing" -Ryan, age 16

Every love story begins with words that one person says to another: “Hey.” “Hiiii.” “U up???” “You had me at popcorn.” That was how this one began… Like many millennial couples, we first connected through a dating app. When we matched, Kayla zeroed in on the one part of Ryan’s bio that she knew more about than anything– food, or more specifically, his vintage movie theater popcorn machine. Her opening line? “You had me at popcorn.” After a few days of chatting on the app, Ryan suggested meeting for drinks. Our connection was immediate, and a casual drink after work turned into talking and laughing late into the night. That was August 27th, 2019. We spent the next few months in quarantine together, watching movies and eating bottomless buckets of popcorn. Ryan read the entire Harry Potter series to Kayla (out loud, with voices…), and we exchanged I-love-yous between handfuls of our favorite snack. Four years later, we have built a wonderful life together in Charlotte. We live in a townhouse with our cat, Mischa, and we have come to share in many hobbies, including Ryan’s deep love of the Philadelphia Eagles, and Kayla’s passion for cooking. Our weekends are spent walking golf courses, playing tennis, and obsessively cheering on Kayla’s favorite Formula 1 team, Mercedes AMG Petronas. We take every opportunity to travel, whether jet-setting to Ireland, Greece or Hawaii, or sneaking in a quick weekend trip to Disney. But no matter where we are in the world, we know that the sky is always Carolina Blue and that our love will last a lifetime. P.S. Keep an eye out for a popcorn machine at our reception!